


Across the Green

by morganloveswillsolace



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gay, M/M, Post-The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus), Three Days in the Infirmary (Percy Jackson), boo - Freeform, solangelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29764641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganloveswillsolace/pseuds/morganloveswillsolace
Summary: Nico diAngelo had never had any real friends. Will Solace was determined to change that.The battle of Camp Half-Blood was close to the craziest thing the blond-haired son of Apollo had ever experienced, and now that the Romans were at camp, lots of-...amusing- activities would transpire.Would Will be able to break through the walls Nico had put up, and hopefully become his first...friend?Or, hopefully, something more.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Jason Grace & Percy J. & Hazel Levesque & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez & Frank Zhang, Annabeth Chase & Leo Valdez, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Apollo & Kayla Knowles & Austin Lake & Will Solace, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo & Hazel Levesque, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Piper McLean & Leo Valdez
Comments: 20
Kudos: 30





	1. the earth's awake

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, bestianas! Thanks for clicking on my fic! I hope you love it. The first chapter and a half are slow- they are basically the ending of boO from Will's point of view. If you don't care to read that, then just skip to the middle of chapter two! All characters are not owned by me.  
> Please enjoy!  
> ps: the name came from the last line of the last nico chapter!! isn't it cute?? I was super proud of that :))))

Nico diAngelo had always been a loner.

Will Solace had always been the opposite.

He’d always been the popular guy in everything he did. His strikingly good looks were a part of it, of course, but mainly it was his bubbly personality. He’d always had the biggest smile in the room. He’d always felt the compulsive need to help people when they looked upset; Whether that was physical pain or something else. He’d never been one to ignore someone’s pain.

That’s why, during the Battle of Camp-Half Blood, when Will had seen Nico stumbling towards the Roman’s Praetors tent, he had to step in. Nico looked awful. His eyes were sunken so far into his face they looked 2-D, and he was paler than Will had ever seen someone who was still conscious look. He, Lou Ellen Blackstone, and Cecil Markowitz had been scouting, though  _ what _ for they weren’t completely sure. The Romans had completely surrounded them. 

Upon seeing Nico’s fragile state, the doctor in Will had urged him to jump up. Plus, Nico was definitely the kind to charge headfirst into a literal  _ sea _ of Romans alone. Be damned how fatigued he looked and certainly must be feeling, that was just how he was.

“Nico?” He said, and his eyes widened as he leaned back away from Nico’s sword that swung where Will’s head had been a heartbeat earlier.  _ That had been close. _ “Put that down!” He hissed, giving Nico one of his Mom/Doctor disapproving looks. “What are you doing here?” 

Nico paused, his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion. His eyes flitted behind Will, presumably to Lou Ellen and Cecil who were still crouched in the bushes behind him. “ _ Me _ ?” Nico asked, glaring at Will in the way he’d noticed Nico usually did. “What are  _ you _ doing? Getting yourself killed?” 

Will felt his lips tug down. “Hey, we’re scouting the enemy. We took precautions.” 

“You dressed in black,” Nico said, giving the trio a once over, “with the sun coming up. You covered your face but didn’t cover that mop of blond hair. You might as well be waving a yellow flag.” 

Will felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment. “Lou Ellen wrapped some mist around us, too,” He defended, glancing behind him. 

“Hi,” Lou Ellen said, waving her hand. “You’re Nico, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. And this is Cecil from the Hermes cabin.” She gestured to the boy on her right. Will glanced towards the Roman camp, only a quick jog away, and Nico knelt behind the bushes with them.

“Did Coach Hedge make it to camp?” Nico asked, his eyebrows scrunching up again. It was kind of cute. Nico didn’t strike Will as the kind that generally cared for other people enough to feel concern.

Lou Ellen giggled, and Will had to resist the urge to throw himself into the Roman camp.

“Did he ever,” She said, smiling cheekily. Will threw an elbow into her side. “Yeah.” He agreed, trying to force the memory out of his mind. “Hedge is fine. He made it just in time for the baby’s birth.”

“The baby!” Nico softly exclaimed, a smile flashing across his face for the fraction of a second. It was an odd expression on the son of Hades face; one Will wasn’t sure he’d ever seen.

“Mellie and the kid are alright?” 

“Fine. A very cute little satyr boy,” Will said, trying not to shudder. “But I delivered it. Have you ever delivered a baby?” He asked, his hands trembling. He was still fighting not to picture the image of Mellie that painted the insides of his eyelids whenever he closed his eyes. 

“Um, no,” Nico said, his eyes tightening, and his lips curving downward and nostrils flaring.

“I had to get some fresh air,” Will said, inhaling deeply, looking up around the forest. The air felt good, and it’d helped clear his head. “That’s why I took this mission. Gods of Olympus, my hands are still shaking. See?” He asked, taking Nico’s hand in his to prove his point. It was then that Will could feel how bone-exhausted Nico was. Will wasn’t even sure how the dark-haired boy was still standing. It was unusual and concerning, the way Nico’s energy had felt so dim to Will’s touch; like someone had thrown a heavy blanket over him. Was he even fully there? His energy felt wispy, like the slightest breath could blow it away.

“Whatever,” Nico snapped, yanking his hand from Will’s. “We don’t have time for chit-chat. The Romans are attacking at dawn and I’ve got to-” 

Will cut him off. “We know. But, if you’re planning to shadow-travel to that tent, forget it.”

Nico’s usual glare hardened. “Excuse me?”

Will met his dark eyes with a soft determination. There was no way he could let Nico do that in the state he was in. “Coach Hedge told me about your shadow travel. You can’t try that again.”

“I just did try it again, Solace. I’m fine!”

Will raised his eyebrow. “No, you’re not. I’m a healer. I could feel the darkness in your hand as soon as I touched it. Even if you made it to that tent, you’d be in no shape to fight. But you wouldn’t make it. One more slip, and you  _ won’t _ come back. You are not shadow-traveling.” “Doctor’s Orders,” He added, folding his arms across his chest. 

Nico looked incredulous. “The camp is about the be destroyed-”

“And we’ll stop the Romans,” Will interrupted, holding his hand up. “But we’ll do it our way. Lou Ellen will control the Mist. We’ll sneak around, do as much damage as we can to those onagers. But no shadow-travel.” He said firmly.

“But-” Nico started. 

“ _ No _ .” Will reaffirmed, staring into the son of Hades eyes as if daring him to say otherwise. 

Nico sighed angrily, his eyes cast beyond Will onto the glittering hills of Camp Half-Blood.

“Whatever,” He finally conceded after a long pause. “But we have to hurry. And you’ll follow my lead.”

“Fine,” Will said, nodding in compliance. “Just don’t ask me to deliver any more satyr babies and we’ll get along great.”

As they approached the first onager, the legion seemed to erupt in chaos. Screams and weapons clattering to the floor were all Will could hear. “What’s going on down there?” Lou Ellen asked, glancing towards the scene of madness. “That’s my distraction,” Nico said dismissively, and Will bit his cheek. He hoped Nico hadn’t summoned anything else with his underworld powers. They approached the onager, and Cecil set about dismantling it; after briefly looking disappointed about the fact that he wouldn’t get to use the Greek fire he’d brought. A few moments of standing guard later, they moved onto the next one. Lou Ellen’s mist must’ve wavered, because one of the guards spotted them. 

“Hey!” He yelled, pointing at the four of them.  _ Will could handle this. _ “Got this,” He muttered, before sprinting off in the direction of the Fifth Cohort. He couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like a whole group of Romans were behind him. Thankfully, Will liked to run. He’d always liked cardio; the rush he got by pumping his legs as fast as he could. 

Regrettably, it seemed like the Romans liked to run too. They were gaining on him, and he was running out of places to turn. 

Faintly, over all the screaming, he thought he heard a thump.

Risking a glance over his shoulder, he saw Nico incapacitating the Romans faster than Will thought possible; especially weakened as he was. Half a minute later, six Romans lay dazed on the ground. Will punched Nico’s shoulder lightly. 

“Thanks for the assist. Six at once isn’t bad.” Will said, breathing heavily and sporting a cheeky grin. 

“Not bad?” Nico asked, glaring at Will, though Will thought he might’ve detected the faintest glimmer of amusement in his eyes. “Next time I’ll just let them run you down, Solace,”

“Ah, they’d never catch me,” Will said, smirking at the son of Hades.  _ Man, was he fun to tease. _

Cecil waved them over from the third onager, and they moved together. Unfortunately, the guards spotted them from twenty yards away. One yelled, “There!”

Lou Ellen cursed. “They’re expecting an attack now. The Mist doesn’t work well against alert enemies. Do we run?”

“No,” Nico said, scowling. “Let’s give them what they expect.”

He spread his hands, and the ground exploded. A handful of skeletons clawed their way through the dirt, and Will could taste the blood on his cheek and realized he’d been biting it.  _ This was exactly what he’d said not to do! _

Nico looked like he was about to follow the skeletons into battle, but as he stepped forward he tipped at a dangerously parallel angle. Will lurched forward and grabbed his shoulders, saving the dark-haired boy from landing face-first in the dirt.

“You idiot,” Will said, slinging his arm around Nico’s shoulders.

“I told you no more of that Underworld magic!”

“I’m fine.” Nico insisted, but his entire frame was trembling.

“Shut up. You’re not.” Will told him, digging around in his pocket for the medicinal gum he’d stashed in there. As he searched his pockets, Will felt the weakened boy start to slump against him. From what little he knew about Nico, he was pretty sure he hated physical contact. So he must’ve been  _ exhausted _ .

“Take this,” Will said, holding out the silver-wrapped medicinal gum. It glinted in the sunlight. 

“You want me to chew gum?” 

“It’s medicinal. Should keep you alive and alert for a few more hours.” Will snapped, still holding his palm out. Begrudgingly, Nico unwrapped it and put it in his mouth.

“Tastes like tar and mud.”

“Stop complaining.”

“Hey.” Cecil limped over, looking like he’d pulled a muscle. 

“You guys kind of missed the fight.”

Lou Ellen followed, grinning. Behind them, all the Roman guards were tangled in a weird assortment of ropes and bones.

“Thanks for the skeletons,” she said. “Great trick.” Will fought back a scowl.

“Which he won’t be doing again,” Will said, glancing down anxiously at the pale demigod who leaned against him. As if Nico realized that they were still touching at the same time Will did, he pushed himself away.

“I’ll do what I need to,” Nico muttered, his voice rough.

Will rolled his eyes. “Fine, Death Boy. If you want to get yourself killed –” 

“Do  _ not _ call me  _ Death Boy _ !” Nico growled.

Lou Ellen cleared her throat. “Um,  _ guys– _ ”

“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”

Will turned towards the voice. Apparently, the fight at the third onager had not gone unnoticed.

The entire first cohort was advancing upon them, and in the center stood Octavian. He wore a deep purple robe and layers of jewelry; along with laurel as if he’d already won the battle.

“Well,” Octavian snarled, “ _ Graecus _ saboteurs.” He turned to his dog-headed warriors. “Tear them apart.”

Will had barely had the time to think, but as soon as the enemy had begun to advance, his hand flitted to his mouth. Letting out his best impersonation of an ultrasonic whistle, (which had always been  _ awful _ ,) the dog men who’d been charging them dropped to the ground, writhing in agony.

“Dude.” Cecil opened his mouth. “What the actual  _ Hades _ ? A little warning next time?”

“It’s even worse for the dogs,” Will said, shrugging. “One of my few musical talents. I do a really  _ awful _ ultrasonic whistle.”

As he spoke, the Romans advanced. Octavian himself walked up to Nico, staggeringly confident. 

“Tell me, son of Pluto,’ Octavian asked, and Will was mildly impressed that his voice did not shake. “Why are you helping the Greeks? What have they ever done for you?”

His eyes- pale and bloodshot as they were- bored on Nico in a way that reminded Will of a snake about to strike. 

“I’m helping the Greeks and the Romans,” Nico said, his entire body quivering in anticipation.

Octavian laughed. “Don’t try to con me. What have they offered you–? A place in their camp? They won’t honor their agreement.”

Will’s face burned in anger. Who was Octavian to say what the Greeks would and wouldn’t do? As if they’d just abandon one of their own?

“I don’t want a place in their camp,” Nico snarled. “Or in yours. When this war is over, I’m leaving both camps for good.”

Will felt his lungs deflate in his chest. “Why would you do that?” He asked, trying not to let it show how much that idea upset him.

Nico glared. “It’s none of your business, but I don’t belong. That’s obvious. No one wants me. I’m a child of –”

“Oh, please.” Will interrupted. He worked to keep the frustration out of his voice, but he could tell that some slipped through.

“Nobody at Camp Half-Blood ever pushed you away. You have friends – or at least people who would like to be your friend,” He said. “You pushed yourself away. If you’d get your head out of that brooding cloud of yours for once–”

“Enough!” Octavian snapped, and Will fought the urge to interrupt again. If Nico left camp in the condition he was in now- 

Well… Will didn’t want to think about how that’d end.

“Di Angelo, I can beat any offer the Greeks could make. I always thought you would make a powerful ally. I see the ruthlessness in you, and I appreciate that. I can assure you of a place in New Rome. All you have to do is step aside and allow the Romans to win. The god Apollo has shown me the future –”

_ ‘No _ !’ Will shouted, shoving past Nico and getting good and close to Octavian’s face.” I am a son of Apollo, you anemic _ loser _ . My father hasn’t shown anyone the future, because the power of prophecy isn’t working. But this–” He waved loosely at the assembled legion, the hordes of monstrous armies spread across the hillside. “This is  _ not _ what Apollo would want!”

Octavian’s lip curled in a sneering smile. “You lie. The god told me personally that I would be remembered as the savior of Rome. I will lead the legion to victory, and I will start by–”

Will felt the ‘ _ thunk-thunk-thunk _ ’ reverberating through the earth, like a giant statue marching in tempo; and then all the onagers fired at once. Six golden comets billowed into the sky.

“By destroying the Greeks!” Octavian cried with glee. “The days of Camp Half-Blood are over!” Thankfully, Cecil’s Hermes-ness had paid off. The missiles were all off course, and after a few moments, they all collided in one huge fiery explosion. Will’s eyes watered from the heat of the blast, and he was nearly hit in the face with a random piece of plastic that flew towards him. There was a tense silence for a count of ten. “NO! NO! NO! RELOAD!” Octavian shouted, pointing at the First Cohort. 

They simply stood and stared at him, unmoving. It was then that Will noticed a group of Romans marching towards them, with a pale blonde boy in the lead. His lips were stained in a cherry red, and he looked like he was trembling.

“Octavian!” The red-lipped boy called. “We have new orders.”

Octavian’s entire face twitched. “Orders? From whom? Not from me!”

Will fought back a shudder. Octavian was acting like a dictator- and if he knew anything about Rome, they  _ hated _ those.

“From Reyna,” The boy said, loud enough to make sure everyone in the First Cohort could hear. “She’s ordered us to stand down.”

Will’s stomach filled with slight relief. He’d never met Reyna, but rumors about her had spread. Reyna wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t rush into a pointless battle. 

“Reyna?” Octavian laughed, though there was no humor in it. “You mean the outlaw I sent you to arrest? The ex-praetor who conspired to betray her own people with this Graecus ?” He jammed his finger in Nico’s chest, and Will had to stop himself from smacking his hand off the dark-haired boy. Nobody should touch him like that. “You’re taking orders from her?” Octavian asked, looking amused.

The Fifth Cohort formed up behind their centurion, uneasily facing their comrades in the First. Dakota crossed his arms stubbornly. “Reyna is the praetor until voted otherwise by the Senate.”

“This is war!” Octavian yelled. “I’ve brought you to the brink of ultimate victory and you want to give up? First Cohort: arrest Centurion Dakota and any who stands with him. Fifth Cohort: remember your vows to Rome and the legion. You  _ will _ obey me!”

Will shook his head angrily. “Don’t do this, Octavian. Don’t force your people to choose. This is your last chance.”

“ _ My _ last chance?” Octavian grinned, madness glinting in his eyes. “I will SAVE ROME! Now, Romans, follow my orders! Arrest Dakota. Destroy these  _ Graecus _ scum. And reload those onagers!”

It all happened very quickly then. From the corner of his eye, Will saw Clarisse, dressed in a blood-red cape, leading the entirety of the Greek army. They gathered on the crest of Half-Blood Hill, and for one heartbeat there was complete silence. 

“Romans, you have fired on our camp! Withdraw or be destroyed!” Clarisse screamed, her voice more powerful than Will would’ve anticipated. It was a scene that would’ve made most other people run for their lives; but the Romans weren’t most people. All Will could think was  _ ‘Are you kidding me? Couldn’t she have waited?’ _

Octavian turned back to his troops, a giddy and somewhat psychotic smile spreading across his face. “You see? It was a trick! They divided us so they could launch a surprise attack. Legion,  _ cuneum formate ! CHARGE!” _

Then all hell broke loose. Will did the only thing he could think of, bringing his fingers back up to his mouth for yet another ultrasonic whistle. “DON’T BE STUPID!” He screamed, his voice straining. He saw something huge up in the sky to his left, and when he looked, he was relieved to see who he could only imagine was Reyna who was carrying the Athena Parthenos on a gaggle of pegasus and Roman eagles. “LOOK!” He shouted, pointing up at New-Rome's brunette praetor. 

The Athena Parthenos was beautiful, with an aura of power. It was twice the size of the Big house, with white tendrils of something silky curling around it. 

“GREEK DEMIGODS!” Reyna’s voice boomed as if projected from the statue itself like the Athena Parthenos had become a stack of concert speakers. “Behold your most sacred statue, the Athena Parthenos, wrongly taken by the Romans. I return it to you now as a gesture of peace!”

They touched down in the valley at Half-Blood Hill, and gold light instantly shone out in all directions. It reminded Will of his father, golden, bright, and powerful. It seemed to speak without words, a faint whisper that told them:  _ “You are not alone. The Gods have not abandoned you.” _

“Romans!” Reyna yelled, her brunette hair whipping wildly around her face in the wind. “I do this for the good of the legion, for the good of Rome. We must stand together with our Greek brethren!”

“Listen to her!” Nico yelled, marching towards her.

Will was impressed. Nico had never seemed like one the lead, but he certainly would’ve been good at it as a child of Hades. He raised his sword and was speaking fiercely. You would never have known that just moments ago he’d been close to blacking out with exhaustion.

“Reyna risked her life for all of you! We brought this statue halfway across the world, Roman and Greek working together, because we must join forces. Gaia is rising. If we don’t work together–”

**_YOU WILL DIE._ **

The voice shook the earth. Will felt his heart drop into his stomach. There was no one place the voice had originated from- it was as if the entire earth was a giant boom-box. Wind swept across the hillside. The ground itself became fluid and sticky, the grass pulling at Will’s feet like it wanted to suck Will inside of it.

**_A FUTILE GESTURE._ **

Will’s throat constricted. His body was full of adrenaline. 

**_BUT, IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, YOU MAY DIE TOGETHER._ **

“ _ No _ …” Octavian mumbled, walking backward in a daze. “No, no…” He broke ranks and ran, pushing through his own troops.

“CLOSE RANKS!” Reyna yelled.

The Greeks and Romans moved together, standing shoulder to shoulder as all around them the earth shook. It was a jarring sight- there must’ve been 500 of them in total. 

“ _ Not enough _ ,” Will thought, his limbs turning into lead as they filled with dread. 

Even surrounded by the monsters Octavian had rounded up, the combined demigods wouldn’t have had much of a chance. They would make their final stand on Half-Blood Hill, with the Athena Parthenos as their rallying point.

But even here they stood on enemy ground. Because Gaia was the earth.  _ And the earth was awake. _

  
  



	2. stitches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! This chapter is so unnecessarily long, I'm sorry! Don't worry, we got into some fun new stuff now tho :)

Will wasn’t sure how they were going to pull this off. Perhaps, this time, they really were facing something that was too much for them to handle. They’d bit off more than they could chew. 

He’d never been particularly proficient with a sword,  _ or _ a bow for that matter; (Healing was definitely his gift more so than anything,) but at least with a bow he could hit his target. The monsters Octavian had brought hadn’t hesitated to turn on the demigods the moment they’d started fighting together. Hundreds of  _ Drachane,  _ dog-men, and Gods knew what else had swarmed the feeble army of demigods in seconds. Thankfully, the demigods were all armed and prepared. Chaos ensued. 

Will’s ADHD took over and everything moved in a blur. Arrow after arrow he shot into monster after monster. The ground shook beneath his feet as if Gaia was growling. After he was nearly out of arrows, Will spotted Octavian. He was sitting atop one of his Prator pedestal thingies, and had not so much as lifted a finger. He bit back a growl. Who was  _ he  _ to think the Greeks were bad if their own Prator didn’t even help them in battle? If they somehow managed to defeat Gaia, Octavian could still very well order them to attack Camp Half-Blood.

It could’ve been minutes or hours later- but Will saw Nico. He looked the way you’d assume a son of Hades should look- spattered in monster dust, grime, and just looked like death overall.

Nico had been about to charge into a group of  _ Karpoí _ when Will ran over to him. He’d need help to get the sad excuse for his cousin, (Octavian,) away from his reinforcements so that he couldn’t order them around. There was so much screaming and just overall noise that it was almost impossible to talk normally. He ran up behind Nico and whispered in his ear. 

“Octavian,”

Nico turned. “Where?”

“Come on,” Will said, turning in the direction he’d seen Octavian sitting. 

They’d made it halfway down Half-Blood Hill when the ground- which was already shaking- erupted. Everyone- Demigods  _ and  _ monsters froze in utter horror. Dust, dirt, leaves, and just about everything earthy you could imagine swirled, and collected into one dense human-shaped blob. Gaia’s face formed, and horrifying as she was, she was beautiful in the way only a goddess could be.

Before she could even speak, quick as lightning, something metallic swooped down and jerked her off of the ground. Will- along with everyone else- looked at the spot the goddess of the earth had just been, dumbfounded. “What- How-?” He heard from his side.

Octavian. Right. Just because they didn’t need to worry about Gaia for the moment being, they still needed to deal with him. “I don’t know,” Will said, scratching his nose. “But I doubt there’s much we can do about  _ that.  _ We have other problems.”

He turned back down the hill and ran towards the closest onager, where he saw Octavian had moved.  _ So he actually does something now, huh? _ Beside him, Nico yelled. “Octavian!”

The scrawny blond argur turned around. “Oh, I see!” Octavian’s laughter was brittle and quite insane. “Trying to steal my glory, eh? No, no, son of Pluto. I am the savior of Rome. I was promised!”

Will raised his hands, placating. 

“Octavian, get away from the Onager. It isn’t safe.”

“Of course it’s not! I will shoot Gaia down with this machine!” Octavian exclaimed, his bloodshot eyes terrifyingly manic. 

Will saw lightning strike the ground, and the wind and sea churned in a miniature hurricane. “You see?” Octavian cried. The gold on his body was smoking. “The gods approve of my actions!”

“Jason is making that storm,” Nico said fiercely. “If you fire the onager, you’ll kill him and Piper, and-”

“Good!” Octavian cried, his voice much too cheerful considering the fact that in a few moments every demigod around them would be dead- Greek and Roman alike. “They’re traitors! All traitors!”

“Listen to me,” Will tried again, his voice soft as he could be through the screaming winds. “This is  _ not  _ what Apollo would want. Besides, your robes are–” 

“You know nothing,  _ Graecus _ !” Octavian wrapped his hand around the release lever. Will bit his cheek. “I must act before they get any higher. Only an onager such as this can make the shot. I will singlehandedly–” He was cut off when a Roman boy with dark hair, tanned skin, and for some reason a large red bump on his forehead appeared behind him. “Centurion,” The boy said, holding a shield and sword. Will bit back a curse. He didn’t want to waste time-fighting multiple people. 

“Michael!” Octavian shrieked. “Excellent! Guard me while I fire this onager. Then we will kill these  _ Graeci  _ together!”

The boy- Michael- studied the trio with glittering chocolate-colored eyes. His gaze fixed on Nico, and he scowled. At Will’s side, Nico adjusted his sword. 

“Are you certain, Octavian?” asked the dark-haired boy.

“Yes!”

“Are you absolutely certain?” Will tensed, his hand in position to draw an arrow.

“Yes, you fool! I will be remembered as the savior of Rome. Now keep them away while I destroy Gaia!”

“Octavian, don’t,” Will pleaded, his heartbeat in his ears. “We can’t allow you–”

“Will,” Nico said, “we can’t stop him.”

Will’s mind went blank.  _ What? _ He was just going to let Octavian kill their friends-?  _ No. _ Nico would never let their friends come to harm. He must know something Will didn’t. 

Octavian’s eyes gleamed. “That’s right, son of Pluto. You are helpless to stop me! It is my destiny! Kahale, stand guard!”

“As you wish.” Michael moved in front of the machine, blocking Octavian from Will’s view. “Centurion, do what you must,” Michael said.

Octavian turned to release the catch. “A good friend to the last,” Octavian said. “Goodbye, Gaia!” Octavian yelled. “Goodbye, Jason Grace the traitor!”

Will tried to fight the panic rapidly rising in his chest. He knew Nico wouldn’t let him go forward if there was a huge risk involved.

Then Octavian cut the wire.

In a fraction of a second- so quickly that Will almost missed it- Octavian launched into the air along with the ammunition. In the blink of an eye, Octavian’s screams faded away and all Will could head and see was the fiery missile soaring upward. 

“Goodbye, Octavian,” Michael said, and then turned back towards Nico and Will, shooting them one last glare. Then he turned and stomped away. 

Will wasn’t sure how he felt. He’d just inadvertently participated in the unnecessary death of another demigod. Will was a medic- and he’d taken the Hippocratic Oath. He’d sworn that he would do everything in his power to prevent the death of another human. Even if Octavian was-

His thoughts were cut off when his eyes drifted upward, following the fiery comet that just  _ kept _ gaining altitude. It disappeared behind the clouds, and Will’s heart sank in his chest. The last thing he heard was a deafening ‘ **_boom_ ** ’.

The sky turned red, then orange, then black. Bits of plastic and metal- parts of the  _ Argo II _ , if Will had to guess- rained down; along with the unconscious bodies of Piper and Jason, which were plucked up by the Roman’s eagles. The entire valley seemed like it was waiting in tense silence. 

Leo never came back.

All of the monsters had been defeated, but both Romans and Greeks suffered large casualties. Not nearly as bad as it could’ve been, though.    
A large part of that was thanks to Will. He’d turned into something of a machine in the infirmary- there were hundreds of people that needed medical attention. He fell into a timeless daze, first healing those in the most critical condition. Time passed, and Will didn’t even realize that he hadn’t slept in a very long time. At a certain point, he’d looked down and realized that his green surgeon’s shirt and jeans were completely covered in blood. His hands had long ago been stained with it- they’d long ago run out of sterile gloves, and the compulsive washing did nothing to take away the faint pink that stained his fingers. 

“Will?”   
It was Kayla’s voice behind him- though he was so tired and focused that he didn’t even register her voice for a few moments. He’d been tending to a Roman demigod from the Second Cohort named Reza. She had broken her ankle, which was one of the least concerning injuries he’d delt with in the last few hours.

“Will!” Kayla repeated, and something yanked his shoulder backward. 

He blinked, his mind fuzzy. 

“Yeah?”   
Kayla looked tired. Her green hair was frizzy and unkempt, and she too was spotted in blood. “Are you okay?” Will asked, shaking his head. “You should sit down.”

Kayla shook her head and frowned. “Will I’m fine. Look at you! You haven’t taken a break in over  _ 30 hours _ .  _ You _ need to sit down, and eat something too, while you’re at it.”   
Will looked at her in confusion. “But I have to help?” He asked, mechanically walking over to the supply cabinet to get Kayla some ambrosia. “And have you seen Nico?”

His mind briefly wandered to the son of Hades. He should be here- in the infirmary- but Will had been far too busy to try and fetch him.

“No- Will-!” Kayla said, grabbing his wrist and yanking him away from the closet. “You aren’t going to be able to help anyone if you collapse from exhaustion. Please sit down.”

She gave him a pointed look and then turned to Reza. “He needs to go rest. I’m sure someone else from Cabin 7 will be over soon,” Kayla told her, and then dragged Will, (Who was completely silent in surprise,) over to Austin. “Can you go check on that girl?” Kayla pointed at Reza, “when you finish restocking the cabinet?”

“Yeah,” Austin said, barely glancing up from the stitches he was working on.

“There. Now come with me,” Kayla said and pulled Will out of the infirmary. The sunlight shocked his eyes; so different from the sterile white of the medical lighting. They walked sluggishly to the Apollo cabin, which was a complete mess. In general, Will was a very orderly counselor; and the cabin was always neatly kept- but with the number of wounded campers, nobody in the Apollo cabin was going to waste time on  _ cleaning _ . 

Kayla steered Will towards his bunk, and gently pushed on his shoulder. “Sit.” She ordered and then turned around to get a bottle of water and a granola bar. “Here,” She said, handing them to Will, and then she moved to sit on her bunk. “Will, can you even feel your feet right now?” She asked, and to his terror, Will realized that he couldn’t. To be honest, he couldn’t feel any part of him. His entire body felt like it was buzzing- as if he’d had a giant coffee after an all-nighter.

His face must’ve given her all the answers she needed because she nodded with a solemn look on her face.

“Go to sleep. Austin, Me, and the rest of us can handle the infirmary,” She said and stood up. Will wanted to argue, but now that he was sitting on his bed he found it difficult to keep his eyes open. “I guess a little sleep wouldn’t be the worst thing,” He mumbled and leaned sideways to put his head on his pillow. His head felt disconnected from his body. 

“Don’t let me sleep too long, though,” He managed faintly, before closing his eyes. He faded so quickly, he didn’t even hear her response.

Will slept for twenty-three hours.

Kayla, much to his annoyance, had  _ not _ woken him up in a reasonable amount of time. Though he wouldn’t have said it aloud, he was grateful. He felt truly rested- he hadn’t even dreamed. By the time he woke up, almost everyone had been tended to. It was all he could do to try and tidy up the Apollo cabin, which was a complete mess of scattered medical supplies, assorted dirty clothing, and the occasional musical instrument. When he left, his well-worn flip-flops squeaking on the wooden floors, it might have been 5 or 6 AM. As soon as he stepped out of his cabin, he saw the scrawny form of Nico diAngelo standing outside of his cabin, talking to none other than Jason Grace. He looked like he hadn’t slept in even longer than Will, and he most definitely needed to be checked out in the infirmary. He waved his arms in an attempt to get diAngelo’s attention, and surprisingly Nico looked over. 

Will pointed at the ground in front of him in a  _ come here _ motion. Hopefully, he didn’t look too aggravated. Nico glanced back at Jason apologetically and then shuffled over to Will, who was standing in the doorway of Cabin 7. 

“So, where were you?” Will asked, raising an eyebrow. Nico looked just as he had during the battle, suggesting that he had  _ not  _ in fact taken a shower. Not that Will had, either. 

“What do you mean?” Nico asked.

“I’ve been stuck in the infirmary for, like, two days. You don’t come by. You don’t offer to help.” Will said, his voice laced with hurt.

“I ... what? Why would you want a son of Hades in the same room with people you’re trying to heal? Why would  _ anyone  _ want that?”

Will scowled.

“You can’t help out a friend? Maybe cut bandages? Bring me a soda or a snack? Or just a simple  _ How’s it going, Will?  _ You don’t think I could stand to see a friendly face?”

“What ...  _ my  _ face?”

Will rolled his eyes. 

_ “ _ You’re so dense,” he noted. “I hope you got over that nonsense about leaving Camp Half-Blood.”

“I – yeah. I did. I mean, I’m staying.”

The relief that filled Will from head to toe was a heady thing, though he hoped diAngelo didn’t notice.

“Good. So you may be dense, but you’re not an idiot.”

”How can you even talk to me like that? Don’t you know I can summon zombies and skeletons and–”

“Right now you couldn’t summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, di Angelo,” Will scoffed.

“I told you, no more Underworldy stuff, doctor’s orders. You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary. Starting  _ now _ .”

“Three days? I – I suppose that would be okay.”

Will tried to hide his surprise. He hadn’t thought that Nico would agree so easily.

“Good. Now –”

A loud  _ whoop!  _ cut through the air.

Over the hearth by the fire, Annabeth smacked Percy’s arm. “Be quiet!” She exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

“I’ll be right back,” Nico said. “Promise on the Styx and everything.”

He walked over to Percy and Annabeth, and Will let his eyes wander around the camp. There were people  _ everywhere. _ It looked homey, and this was the fullest the camp had ever been in Will’s years of attendance.

His gaze was drawn back to Percy, Annabeth, and Nico when he heard the  _ smack  _ of a high-five. Percy looked confused, and Annabeth was smiling with her hand up. Nico walked back over to Cabin 7 and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Right,” The dark-haired demigod said, raising his eyebrow, “Three Days in the infirmary you said?”

Will nodded. “It doesn’t start until you get there, though, diAngelo.”

Nico looked like he was starting to regret his decision. “Let’s go then,” He retorted and then started towards the infirmary.

When they walked in, Will was surprised to see that it had been tidied up. He pointed to one of the few empty beds in the corner. “I assume you want this one?” He asked the dark-haired boy at his side. Nico nodded.

“We have snacks and water here- well, we did- but in general you can only leave for mealtimes,” Will paused the infirmary speech he gave at least once a month to run his fingers through his blond curls. 

“No physical exertion, is like, the big thing. It’s like you’re on bed rest. If you need something and nobody is here, we have pagers on the wall next to the bed.” He pointed to the wall next to the bed which held the red button. “Usually either me or Kayla has the walkie,” He said, patting his pockets. “Kayla’s been on shift for the last-” He looked at the clock. “Almost 25 hours; so she has it right now.”

Nico raised his eyebrows. “25 hours? What’ve you been doing, Solace?”

Will smiled sheepishly. “Sleeping,” He admitted. “I told her to wake me up when she needed me but she never did.”

Nico crossed his arms and sat down on the bed. “So are all of you Apollo kids so self-sacrificing?”

Will furrowed his eyes. “Coming from you?” He chuckled. “Aren’t you like the most self-sacrificing person ever, Death Boy? What with the raising the dead, even when you can barely stand,  _ and  _ after I told you not to?”

Nico scowled. “Don’t call me Death Boy. And that wasn’t self-sacrificing. They needed help.”

“Whatever you say, Death Boy. If you had  _ listened  _ to me the first time then you’d probably only need to stay here for two days.”

Nico’s nostrils flared. “Seriously, Solace, if you want me to stay in here like you want, then you’re not gonna call me that.”

Will grinned. “Sure,” He agreed.

He absolutely would not be letting the camp’s resident Ghost King off of his bed rest early, even though to the naked eye he looked fine. Will would never say it- for embarrassment’s sake- but he was probably more worried about Nico’s health than Nico was.

“It’s not like I’m doing it for your own good or anything,” Will added, setting out the standard supplies for overnight patients. Nico sighed behind him.    
“Here, take this,” Will said, holding out a square of ambrosia. 

“Thanks, I guess,” Nico grumbled, stretching out on the bed.

He reached behind his back and tugged off his Aviator’s jacket, and Will’s gaze was drawn to the faintly green-tinted straggles on his arm.

His eyes bugged out of his head. “What did you do?” He exclaimed, stepping over to Nico and gingerly holding his arm up closer to his view. “Oh,” Nico shrugged his arm out of Will’s grasp. “We had a little run-in with Lycaon. He scratched me.” 

Will’s face must’ve looked about as horrified as he felt because Nico’s cheeks flushed red. “It’s not that big of a deal, I honestly forgot that I had them.”

Picking Nico’s pale olive arm back up, Will cringed. The stitching was crooked, messy, and if by the grace of Apollo hadn’t yet been infected, would be soon. 

“Who did these stitches?!” He exclaimed jumping up to gather the necessary supplies to fix them. 

“Um,” Nico sputtered, his eyes anxiously following Will around the room, “Reyna, or Coach Hedge I think…”

In his arms, Will held a needle, antiseptic, gauze, thread, Iodine, gloves, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.    
“This is going to hurt. A  _ lot _ ,” Will told him, biting his lip in worry. “It looks infected, and we’re going to have to re-cut the skin open to fix the stitches.”

Nico’s nostrils flared. “Get it over with then,” He murmured, offering up his arm, which was still half-covered by his mid-length sleeves. “You need to come sit over here,” Will said, his doctor mode taking over as he gestured at the exam table. “And take off your shirt.”

Nico’s cheeks turned red. “I’m not taking my shirt off!”

Will looked at him in exasperation. “Nico, I can’t even see all of the cuts. How am I supposed to restitch them if I can’t even get to them?”

Nico’s eyes dropped to the floor, and he looked like he was mortified. “We’re just waiting on you now,” Will reminded him, standing next to the exam table impatiently.

Silently, Nico moved to tug his shirt over his head. Will had to remind himself not to stare; for  _ gods _ sake, he was a medic-

Nico’s scratches looked even worse on the part of his arm that had previously been covered with cloth. “Why didn’t you come to the infirmary and get me earlier?” Will asked, pouring the rubbing alcohol onto a gauze.

Nico bit his lip. “I forgot I even had them. I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it.”

Will scowled. “I’m not making a big deal out of it. If I hadn’t noticed these then you could’ve  _ died  _ from them, Nico. They’re infected. Don’t you see the green?”

Nico glanced down at his upper arm. “Death doesn’t scare me, Solace.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Stop being so damn masochistic. You don’t need to do purposely risky things just because you’re not afraid to die,” He said, snapping one of the last pairs of gloves on. “This is going to hurt, but this isn’t the worst part. Do you want a towel to bite on or something?”

Nico glared. “I’m fine.”

Will shrugged and readied the alcohol soaked gauze. Hopefully Nico’s scream wouldn’t wake too many people who were currently asleep in the infirmary. “You’ll need to lay down now,” He said, and lightly guided Nico’s shoulder onto the table. After adjusting his placement so Will had the best access, he pressed the damp gauze to one of the gashes. Nico did not scream. He only gritted his teeth, much to Will’s surprise. Carefully, he guided the gauze down each rip in Nico’s skin. He’d have to do this once more, when the cuts were reopened, but this was necessary too. Once they were cleaned on the outside, Will picked up his scalpel. “Okay, this is like the second worst part. Are you sure you don’t want a towel to bite on?”   
Nico looked at him dryly. 

“Take that as a no,” He said, and then went to work.

Once the cuts were effectively sterilized, Will set to restitching them. Thankfully, his stitches were done well. They were nearly invisible, and they should’ve hurt less than however Reyna or Coach Hedge had done them. After fifteen or so painstaking minutes, Nico’s werewolf gashes were about as well taken care of as they could be. Over the new stitches, Will wrapped a soft white gauze. 

“I think you should be all set,” Will told him, stepping back to admire his work. “Just make sure you don’t itch at them.”

At this, Nico let out a breath Will hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Finally,” The dark-haired boy grumbled, swinging his legs off the edge of the exam table. “That hurt like a bitch.”

Will’s eyes widened, and he grinned. “Did you just use a curse word?” He laughed, looking at the son of Hades in amusement. “I’ve never heard you say one before!”

Nico simply glared at him once more before he moved back over to his original cot. 

“You’re so annoying,” Nico mumbled, pulling the itchy blankets up to his face. “So is there… nothing to do in here?” the scrawny boy asked, tilting his head up at Will. “I’m just supposed to sit and stare at the wall for three days?” His voice held the slightest lilt of whining, and Will bit back a laugh.    
“TV isn’t good for you, and it’s not like they have that in the cabins. Why would we have it here?”   
Nico sighed. “I don’t want a TV. I don’t even know how they work. But just sitting in here alone for three days is going to be insufferable. Especially if you’re the only one to keep me company,” He said, and then lowered his voice. “You are a little bit-lot crazy, I don’t want it rubbing off on me.”   
Will laughed. “What was that?” He asked, leaning against the wall at the foot of Nico’s cot. “ _ I’m  _ crazy? Or do you just hate happiness?”

“I know  _ I’m _ not the crazy one,” Nico retorted, his eyes wandering to the bookshelf in the corner. “Am I allowed to stand up to get a book, or do you have to do it for me, Doctor Man?”

Will rolled his eyes. “Thanks for asking,” He said in an overly cheery tone. “I’ll get it.”

Nico huffed and crossed his arms. “So you’re saying that I can’t leave this bed for the next three days?”   
“Of course I’m not saying that, you need to eat.”   
“What if I’m not hungry?”   
“You still need to eat. Haven’t you heard of a properly balanced diet?” Will asked as he handed Nico one of the random books.

“I don’t  _ need  _ a properly balanced diet,” Nico defended, flexing his bicep. “I’m perfectly healthy and  _ I _ barely eat.”

“You do realize those two phrases are contradictory, right?”

“No they’re not,”   
“Yes they are, Death Boy,” Will said, grinning.

“Don’t call me that!”   
“Or what?”   
“I will  _ literally  _ leave, Solace. Don’t test me.”   
“See, I don’t think you will. You know you need to be here as much as I do.”   
“You’re delusional. And also really annoying. Isn’t there another medic who can fix me?”

Will frowned for a moment, his face turned into a pout. “Nope,” He said, sitting down on the bed across from Nico. “Unfortunately for you, you’re stuck with me.”

It was then that Julia Feingold from the Hermes cabin walked in, clutching her arm. A celestial bronze arrow was embedded into her left tricep. “Stray arrow,” She said.

“Oh, geez, okay sit down,” Will told her and then went to fetch some gauze from the supply closet. He returned with the fresh gauze and a damp towel. He washed his hands and put on the standard blue gloves he’d all but neglected for the past week in his hastiness. “This is going to hurt,” He warned, and waited for her nod of consent before pulling the arrow out in one swift motion. He was impressed that she didn’t make a sound, only her jaw clenched. Thankfully, the arrowhead wasn’t in a triangle shape; he’d have had to push it through, break it off, and then pull it out. Working silently, his blue-gloved hands steadily disinfected and wrapped the gauze around Julia’s arm. Picking up the medical stapler, he raised it to the gauze, but Julia yanked her arm away. 

“Are you going to staple that into my arm?” She asked, her voice trembling. Will laughed. “No, I’m just stapling the gauze together.”

He held his hand out for her arm, and she held it out tentatively. Clicking the stapler, the gauze was bound to her arm. “All done,” He said, discarding the bloodied cotton balls and gloves. “You should keep that on for a week or two, and make sure not to scratch at it, but you’ll be golden.”

Julia smiled as she stood up and walked out. “Thanks!” She called as the door closed behind her. 

Behind him, Nico coughed. “So do you just have to wait in here all the time in case people come in?”

Will walked back over to the bed across from the dark-haired demigod. “Yeah, pretty much. Usually, I have more shifts than Austin or Kayla, just because I’m better at it. They teach music and archery classes more than me.”

Nico smiled, and once again Will was struck by how foreign it looked on the boy’s usually emotionless face. “Do you sing, Solace?”

Will’s cheeks reddened. “Um- Not really,” He said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Only when it’s really necessary. It’s  _ not _ one of my talents. Honestly, I think Piper’s little sister Lacy sings better than I do.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure the Apollo kids are perfect at everything. You guys are like textbook overachievers.”

Will shrugged. “I dunno. It’s not like I’ve ever taken singing lessons. I can hold a tune well enough, though.”

“That’s cool,” Nico said and picked up the book. “Great Gatsby? Really? This book was a complete trend.”

Will laughed and raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t look at it before I gave it to you. Do you want something else? And what do you mean it’s a trend?”

“No, this is fine I guess. I’ll probably have time to read every book you guys even have with how long I’ll be in here. It was a trend because…” He paused. “I don’t know! It was just really popular when it came out.”

“ _ Oh my gods _ , yeah, I forgot that you were little when this came out. You’re so old!”

“Yeah,” Nico sighed, propping his head up on his elbow. “If only I was  _ mentally _ 83.” 

Will’s eyes bugged out. “ _ 83 _ ?!” He exclaimed, slapping a hand over his mouth. “Okay, maybe I’ll stop calling you Death Boy, and call you Grandpa instead,”

Nico scowled. “Just because I was alive then doesn’t mean I’m actually that old. You don’t treat Thalia like she’s an adult!”

“You don’t know how I treat Thalia!” Will exclaimed, bursting into a fit of laughter. “For all you know I could treat her like a grandma.”

“Oh shut up, Solace,”   
Will pretended to zip up his lips and lock them with a key. Nico rolled his eyes.    
“I like you better this way,” He said, and Will rolled his eyes. After Will stood up to organize the supply closet, it was quiet.

They didn’t speak again for the rest of Will’s shift until Kayla came to take over. 

“Bye, Death Boy,” Will whispered with a smile into the closing door.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you liked! Please leave a comment wether you did or didn't or if you notice any mistakes! I do use a grammar checker, but sometimes it doesn't catch everything. Thanks for reading!! Besitos, till next time, morgan xoxo


	3. shots!

The next morning when Will woke up, his first thought was about Nico.

Rubbing his forehead, he resisted the urge to bury his head under the pillows and go back to sleep. Unfortunately for him, one of the new younger campers, Gracie, was already awake. She was only ten years old, and her pin-straight golden blonde hair was currently being carefully tied up into space buns by Piper’s little sister, Lacy. “Will!” She shrieked when he opened his eyes. 

“Yeah?” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes and halfway sitting up in the bed. 

“Can you tell me if my hair looks good?” She asked, a pout drawing across her face. “I can’t see the back in the mirror.”    
Lacy frowned. “I told you it looks good! Why would I lie?”   
“To get easy free singing lessons obviously!” Gracie exclaimed, slapping Lacy on the arm. “That hurt!” Lacy yelped, and tears filled her eyes.

_ Gods help Will, when did Senior Counselour come to mean babysitter? _

“Woah Woah Woah, girls, stop,” Will exclaimed, sitting up. “Gracie, don’t  _ hit _ her. That’s mean. Tell her you’re sorry.” 

Gracie pouted and crossed her arms. “I didn’t even hit her hard!”

Will rolled his eyes. “That hardly matters, Gracie. You still hit her. Say sorry.”

“Sorry…” Gracie mumbled, her fingers fidgeting with a string bracelet on her left wrist. 

“It’s okay,” Lacy said, wiping her eyes. “Can we do the singing lessons later? My throat still hurts really bad and I don’t feel like my lungs can fill up all the way.”

“Yeah, that’s fine!”

Will frowned. “Lacy, do you want me to check on you in the infirmary? That sounds like it could be bronchitis, and that can lead to pneumonia. We’d want to get you on some antibiotics if it is,” He told her and stood up from his bunk. So much for sleeping in. Lacy’s eyes grew wide. “Pneumonia?” She asked, her upper lip trembling slightly. “Can’t that kill you?”

Will smiled. “Don’t worry. It couldn’t kill  _ you _ . It’s only scary for people who have other things wrong already, like if you have asthma. You don’t so you’d be fine.” 

Lacy nodded. “Can we go now, though?”

Will smiled and moved to pull one of his assorted t-shirts over his head. “You lead the way, m’lady,” He said as he slipped on his lime green flip-flops. 

  
As they walked, Will’s mind wandered to Nico who would be in the infirmary. Had he eaten breakfast yet?

He pushed open the door, Lacy trailing behind him. “Here, Lacy, sit up here,” Will said softly, patting on the exam table. “I’m just going to wash my hands and get my equipment ready.”

He walked into the back of the infirmary, and tried not to blush when his eyes met with Nico’s for a moment. “Morning,” Nico grumbled, tugging the blanket over his eyes. “Morning sunshine,” Will chirped, already feeling more awake. Nico huffed, and Will bit back a snicker as he looked through the storage closet. “Don’t call me that,” Nico’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Sure thing,” Will promised as he picked up his stethoscope. He walked back over to Lacy, who was looking around the infirmary in bewilderment. “Can you lay down for me Lacy?”

She nodded at him, and smiled. “I’m just going to listen to your breathing with this,” He told her, holding up the stethoscope. She nodded, and laid back on the exam table. “Perfect, I’m just going to listen now, okay?”

He bent forward and put the ear piece of the stethoscope in. He could hear her lungs, and her breaths sounded shallow and cloudy. She definetly had bronchitis, just as he’d suspected.

“Alrighty,” He said, pulling the stethoscope back from her chest. “It sounds like you’ve got bronchitis. No worries hun, we have antibiotics here.”

Quietly, he manuvered to the medicine cabinet, hoping not to wake any of the other overnight sleepers.

He counted out ten tablets of antibiotics Lacy would need, and put them in one of those weekly capsule counters. “Here,” He said, handing her the colorful plastic container. “You should be all set if you take one of those every morning and every night for the next five days.”

“Thanks, Will!” She chirped, and skipped out of the infirmary. 

“Are you always so bubbly in the morning?” Nico’s voice came from the corner as Will disinfected his stethoscope.    
Will laughed. “Believe it or not I only woke up ten minutes ago. But yeah, usually, when the sun’s up so am I.”

Nico drew in a dramatic breath. “So you live by the light of the sun? Like farmers? Are you sure you’re not supposed to be in cabin 4?”

The blond rolled his eyes. “Pretty sure I wouldn’t be in the infirmary if I was a Demeter kid, but you know, maybe,” He said, clearing his throat. “Plus, I look nothing like Miranda.”

Nico nodded and rubbed his eyes, his cheeks flushed with sleep. “Did you already have breakfast?” Will asked, the infirmary tidied up once again. The brunette shook his head  _ no  _ and Will grinned. “Up and at em’!” He exclaimed, his eyebrows raised in excitement. “You can come with me.”

Nico glared at him. “I  _ know  _ you’re not expecting me to go to breakfast at this ungodly hour. I’m not even hungry!”

Will flashed him a goofy grin. “You need to eat unless you want me to up your stay. You can’t get better if you don’t have any nutrients! Plus you have to go to breakfast with either me or Kayla so we can supervise. Can’t have you exerting yourself, all of that jazz.”

Nico’s glare turned colder. “I don’t want to sit with you. You’re annoying and I don’t want to eat! I’m not hungry!”

“That’s not really an option, Death Boy,” Will reminded him, his grin growing with each wave of hatred he felt radiating off of the son of Hades. He wasn’t sure why everyone seemed so scared of him. Sure, he could summon skeletons and had his whole death vibe thing, but underneath it all he was just a scrawny fifteen year old boy. 

Well- techinally- he was like  _ eighty _ , but Will was going to ignore that. 

Nico clearly was not used to people telling him  _ no _ . Or forcing him to do anything for that matter. His face held a look of bewilderment, like he’d just seen a street performer swallow a sword or something. 

“You’re going to eat,” Will began, walking over to the boy who was lying in the cot, “And you’re going to come and do it with me right now, unless you want Kayla and I to stick a tube down your throat.”

Nico’s eyes widened in horror. “Okay!” He exclaimed, his hands cupping his throat. “You don’t have to threaten me. Can I at least get changed first?”

Will grinned at him. “Meet me there in five.”

Will loped over to the big house conference room, where he found Chiron looking over a few papers. “Hey Chiron,” Will greeted, leaning against the doorframe. The centaur looked up from his papers, a look of concentration evident on his face. “How can I help you Will?”

Will flashed his best selling smile. “So you know how I have Nico is the infirmary for three days right? Well he needs to come out for meals, because I want him to get some socialization. He’s shy, you know? But I need to monitor him, at least for the next three days, so I can make sure he doesn’t do anything that could over exert himself. Also- I wanna make sure he actually eats his food, plus the sunlight and fresh air would be good for him. So can he sit with us at cabin 7 for now?”

Chiron looked like he was a mom who’d been asked fifteen times if she could pick up Mcdonalds on the way home and finally gave in. “That’s fine, I suppose, but only for the next three days. Mr. D wouldn’t allow it to go on any longer than that.”

Will flashed his bright smile once more, and thanked him. “Thanks, Chiron!” He called behind him as he bounced back to the dining pavilion. 

Nico was dressed in the same black skinny jeans and t-shirt Will had seen him wear before he’d left all those months ago. “Don’t you look cheerful,” Will remarked, glancing up and down the brunette’s outfit. Nico’s lips turned downward. “Have you  _ ever  _ seen me wear color, Solace?”

“No, but a guy can dream,” He replied, sitting down at the stone slab of the Apollo table. As they sat- Will across from Nico- Kayla and Austin arrived with the rest of their cabin- Yan, Gracie, and Jerry. “Hey guys!” Will greeted, resisting a laugh when he saw Nico’s cheeks had been tinted strawberry-pink. “You guys know Nico right? He’s from cabin 13 but he’ll be sitting with us for the time being.”

Nico shot him a look that said “ _ what are you talking about I thought this was just for three days,”  _ And Will rolled his eyes. “This is Kayla and Austin, you know them I think, and these are our new campers from this year.” They sat down as they introduced themselves, and Nico looked uncomfortable. “Did Will tell you guys that he’s forcing me to take his night shift in the infirmary tomorrow?” Kayla asked, bumping her and Will’s shoulders. “And just because he wants to watch the freaking Star Wars moving they’re showing in the big house. I wanted to sleep!” Austin laughed. “Are you even surprised? He has like- five Star Wars shirts. There’s no way he’d miss them watching it here.”

Will rolled his eyes. “You guys just don’t appreciate it. It’s a cinematic masterpi-” He was cut off when Kayla, who was sitting on his right, shoved a cookie in his mouth. “Mmp- hwy!” He complained, coughing as he choked on it. “Not cool!” 

“Don’t talk about Star Wars at the table! It’s a rule!” Kayla exclaimed, waving her arms around in exasperation. “She’s right, dude,” Austin chimed in, and Will bit back a pout. “Show me one official rule where it says I can’t-” 

“Oh shut up!” Austin said. “You know it’s unofficial cabin 7 table rules.”

Will pouted and turned to Nico. “Do you see how mean they are to me?”

Nico rolled his eyes. “It’s not like you don’t deserve it. You really can go on about something. I don’t blame them.”

Will smothered the sting of Nico’s words under a frown.

Austin raised an eyebrow. “I think we should replace you with Nico,” He chimed in, raising his hand up. “He’s less annoying.”

The younger campers nodded. “Yeah Will,” Jerry said. “I don’t even know what Star Wars is about. It’s from like the 1950s or something! Why do you even like it so much?

Will pursed his lips. “You wouldn’t understand,” He said. “You just aren’t cool enough.”

Later, the pair were in the infirmary together, going over records and reading while Will talked. It was more a one way conversation, as it often was when he was excited about something he’d learned and wanted to tell his friends about it, but Nico seemed to like it better that way. He wasn’t obligated to talk as much, and unlike his siblings, Nico actually seemed to listen and care about what Will was spouting out about.

“And so then they were researching Cancer and- wait, do you know what cancer is?” Nico nodded. 

“Okay, good. So they were researching it and then they found out that the probability of you getting it twice in one lifetime is actually about as common as getting Polio twice, depending on the kind. ‘Cause like, the septic one, where it’s in your blood, that one usually gives you a lifelong immunity. So like when you get Leukemia, since it’s in your blood you’re less likely to get it twice.”

Nico nodded. “What’s Leukemia?”

“It’s a kind of cancer that runs in your blood. It’s where your body makes too much of one kind of cell and the other kinds can’t balance it out.”

Nico glanced down at his wrist. “How do you even know if you have it?”

“Well usually you don’t- that’s the problem. There aren’t always symptoms, so you can go on all find and dandy until it’s too late and can’t be fixed.”

Nico shuddered. “That’s horrifying.”

“Yeah. That’s why prevention is key!” Will chirped, his doctor voice coming out in full swing. “Just like with vaccinations.”

Nico’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

_ Wait. _

“Wait. Nico... you’re from the 1930s right?”

“Yeah, why?” The brunette sighed from across the room.

“They didn’t have Polio vaccinations until, like, 1955.”

“What the Hades is a  _ vaccine _ ?”

Will’s eyes bugged out of his head.

“You haven’t  _ ever _ had a vaccine?!” Will exclaimed, jumping up from the bed he’d been sitting on and flying across the room. “Oh my  _ gods  _ you need to get those now! You’re like a walking magnet for diseases! You’re so lucky you haven’t gotten super sick yet-” He was cut off.

“Can you please  _ tell me  _ what exactly it is that I need done?” Nico asked him, drumming his fingers on the spine of his book. 

Will facepalmed. 

“It’s an injection. We like, have these strains of the virus that we inject so that if you actually get sick it won’t kill you.” 

Nico’s eyes drew wide. “Like a needle?”

Will nodded exaperatedly. 

“I am  _ not _ getting a needle poked into my skin, Solace!”

Will ground his teeth. “You- Nico diAngelo- literal king of ghosts who has fought more monsters than I can  _ count _ , is scared of a  _ freakin’ needle _ ?”

Nico glared at him. “I don’t like them.”

“I don’t care. You should’nt even like, be around anyone if you haven’t been vaccinated.  _ Don’t  _ tell me that’s what you want. You could literally die just from being in public. I need to have Kayla call the hospital we usually get our supplies from-  _ urgh! _ ” He ran his hands through his hair anxiously. 

“ **_Don’t_ ** leave the infirmary- or your bed even- until I get back.”

Nico crossed his arms. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Will’s teeth ground harder. “DiAngelo, I swear I’m not usually this uptight,  _ you know that! _ But  _ seriously,  _ just listen to me right now. It’s important.”

Nico bit his cheek and nodded. “Fine,” He sighed, relaxing back against the wall after having stiffened up at the mention of needles. “But this is  _ not  _ me agreeing to the needles.” 

Will ran his hands through his hair in irritation. “That’s not up for debate,” He said. 

“It’s my body,” Nico argued. 

“Nico!”

“I  _ hate _ needles.”

“Do you want to be around any other person ever again?”   
“No.”   
“Nico!”

“Fine!” The brunette exclaimed, the temperature in the room dropping a solid five degrees. “But if I cry, you will  _ not  _ tell  _ a  _ **_soul_ ** . Understand?”

“These lips, Fort Knox.”

Will and Kayla made a hasty trip up to the Methodist Hospital a short drive from Camp to get all of the necessary shots. Thankfully, the mist let them act as if they worked for another hospital, so they were able to get everything they needed easily enough. Plus, if all else failed, the head Cardiologist was a demigod, and she could help them out if need be. 

“Okay, we’ve got the DTaP, IPV, MMR, Varicella, PCV, Hib, Rotavirus, Heb A&B, HPV, MenACWY, and MenB. Are we missing any?”

Kayla shook her head. “That should be all of them.”

They were both carrying medical coolers on both shoulders like a pair of soccer moms before a game. They loaded into the van, and headed back to camp.

Thankfully, Nico had not moved since Will had seen him. He sat on his bunk, his copy of  _ The Great Gatsby _ fanned out on his lap.

“We’re back!” Kayla announced, gingerly setting her two coolers on the table. “Who’s ready for Vaaaacinations?” She asked in a singsongy voice. “Not me,” He mumbled, tugging the blanket up to his chin. “Come on,” She nagged, and finally he pushed the blanket away and stood up. “Here,” Will said, handing him an ice pack. “If you hold that against your arm for like three minutes then you won’t even feel the pinch.”

Nico met his eyes with a tentative half smile. “Thanks.”

“Pull up your sleeve?” Will requested, and the brunette complied, though Will noticed his fingers were shaking. 

“Hey,” Will said softly. “It’s okay. It’s a little pinch at the worst. I get ‘em all the time. If you can handle Reyna stitching your werewolf scratches up without anasthesia, this should be a piece of cake.”

Nico nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin line. “I’m going to get the alcohol and clean the injection site, okay?”

The brunette nodded again, and his jaw was tight. Will gingerly dragged the alcohol soaked pad over Nico’s pale olive toned skin a couple of times. He walked over to the cooler and pulled out the first vial, filling the syringe up with it. He’d specifically picked the smallest needle possible, a 30 gauge. “Are you ready?” He asked Nico, who had clenched his eyes closed as tightly as possible. His knuckles were white. Silently, he nodded. Will measured the space out from his deltoid, and did the shot quickly. Surprisingly, Nico didn’t even flinch. “One down, twelve to go,” Will told him, and Nico’s nose scrunched up in frustration. It was kind of cute. “Twelve?!” 

“Yep.”

They spent the next ten minutes administering the shots in his arms, and by the end Nico looked less like he wanted to run Will through with his sword. Pulling the last needle out, Will threw it in the biohazard bin. “We’re all done!”

Nico let out a breath of relief that Will hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Speak for yourself,” Nico mumbled, his eyes locked on the faint red dots that spattered themselves across his arm. “I don’t have to get any more ever again now, right?”

“Well-”

“Will!”

“Some of them have boosters! Where you need more than one or it won’t work!”

“Will!” Nico whined, clutching his arm. “I have to get this many shots again?”

Will bit back a laugh. “No, Sunshine, you just have to get like three.”

“Don’t call me sunshine or you’ll be the one getting poked through with metal.”

“Then who would take care of you?” Will asked, fegining hurt and fanning his face. “Kayla, do you want to stick a tube down Nico’s throat  _ alone? _ ”

Nico glared at him. “Maybe Kayla wouldn’t do that to me since unlike you, she’s a nice person.”

“Regardless, it would be my dying wish, so she’d have to honor it.”

“I’ll give you a dying wish,” Nico grumbled, pushing himself off of the exam table and walking over to his cot. “I only have to stay in here two more days, then I’ll be free of your annoyingness,” He muttered, flopping onto his blanket. 

Will cocked an eyebrow. “Just because you’re off bedrest doesn’t mean I’m going to be any less annoying,” He trilled as he and Kayla sterelized the exam table and equipment. “You’ll just be able to run away to your cabin easier.”

Nico groaned. “Can you remind me again why I agreed to this?”   
“Because you knew how important it was?”   
“I don’t think so.”

“Well, I do!”

Kayla laughed. “You two are worse than children. I don’t think Annabeth and Percy even argued this much when they met.”

Will felt his cheeks heat up, and he glanced at her like ‘ _ Are you kidding me? _ ’

“They were also  _ twelve _ ,  _ um _ , and Percy was terrified of her at first. I’m not scared of Mr. Death King here,” Will faltered, his entire upper body flushed. Thankfully, it appeared that Nico was too busy trying to control his own pinkening cheeks to notice Will’s. Not too distracted, though.

“Don’t call me that, you radiator.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed :) If you did, please leave me a comment! Even if you didn't- I love getting feedback! Thanks for reading <33 till next time!  
> xoxo morgan


	4. date? supervised sunshine time? who knows.

“I’m bored,” Nico complained, stretching out on his cot in the infirmary. His face was pale, and he looked like he needed some sun.

“Hi bored, I’m Will.”   
“When did you become a dad, Solace? Is there something you need to tell everyone?”

“Yeah,” Will grinned, “I’ve actually got two kids! They live in the city though…”   
“Oh shut up.”

In the two days that had passed, Nico actually seemed like he was opening up a little. He glared  _ slightly _ less, and he didn’t seem like he wanted to off himself as much every time someone spoke to him.

“Are you seriously asking  _ me, _ the like,  _ one _ person at camp who quite literally never stops talking, to be quiet?”

“I never said I was asking,” Nico muttered, though a small smile played across his lips.

“Does that mean you’re gonna force duct tape over my mouth or something? I’m so scared,” Will teased, biting his cheek. “Do you want to go on a doctor-supervised field trip to the strawberry fields or something?” Will asked, expecting the answer to be a definite no. For as much as Nico complained about being pent up in the infirmary, he would’ve been doing the same thing voluntarily in cabin 13. So when Nico’s face had lit up for half a second before he composed it back to his usual nonchalance, Will was shocked. “Can we really?” He asked, picking at his fingernails. 

“Do you think I’d say that if the answer was no, Death Boy?”

And then Nico must’ve been more excited than he let on; because he didn’t even chastise the use of his less than a favorite nickname. 

“When can we go?”

“After lunch, maybe? The sun will be out.”

Nico glanced at the ceiling, perhaps remembering how much he hated the sun. “If you want,” He said. “Or could we go during sunset, maybe, before the bonfire?”

Will’s cheeks flushed. “Golden hour? My favorite,” He teased.

“Oh gods, you’re probably going to blind me then, aren’t you?” Nico commented, twisting his torso so he was lying upside down on the cot. “Well if you  _ did  _ go blind, at least the last thing you’d see is my face.”

“You say that like it’s a good thing,” Nico mumbled, twisting the silver ring on his finger.

“I mean if you  _ have _ to go blind… Wouldn’t you want to see something beautiful one last time?”

“You’re so full of yourself, Solace.”

Will laughed. “I’m a child of Apollo! I can’t help it. He’s like- CEO of being obsessed with yourself.”

Lunch and dinner at the cabin 7 table passed without incident; though the rest of Will’s siblings seemed to have adopted Nico as their unofficial mascot. They teased him mercilessly about how they wished they could replace Will with the dark-haired son of Hades.

He took a shower after dinner, as usual, plus Kayla thought it would be funny to smear strawberry jelly down his arm. 

The sunglasses Will wore barely made a difference in what he saw, but he was a fan of how they looked nonetheless. He’d changed into black basketball shorts and a grey muscle shirt- it was August after all. He’d told Nico he’d pick him up at the infirmary at 7:30, and it was almost time for him to start walking over. “Have fun on your date,” Kayla teased as he was about to leave. “It’s not a date!” He exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her which she dodged much too easily. “You’re just being annoying,” He called behind him as he walked out the door. Her laughter was audible through the heavy wooden door, and Will facepalmed. It wasn’t a date. 

The sunset over the strawberry fields was about as close to perfect as nature could get. The golden rays of the sun reflected off of Will’s smile and his vibrant curls.

The pair of them sat on one of the picnic blankets Will had laid out, in between one of the rows of strawberries.

Nico shielded his eyes. “You really ought to tell your dad he can tone it down.”

Will laughed, but at the mention of his dad, his lips drew down. “Yeah, I would if he was acting normally. Do you want to borrow these?” He asked, holding out the sunglasses that had been framing his face.

Nico took the shades and slid them onto his face. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s probably nothing, but nobody’s heard from him since Zeus kind of exploded at him during the battle in Athens. He’s just… gone. And the power of prophecy hasn’t been working either. It’s probably just some punishment Zeus is giving him that’ll be over in the next week, but I don’t know, it’s kind of eerie.”

Nico nodded, picking a strawberry off of the plant beside him. In the golden sunlight, everything was saturated with color, like someone had put a filter over it. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

Will faltered. “He’s a god- I mean- he has to be okay right?”

Nico frowned. “I don’t know. Titans can fade, what’s to say the gods can’t? But he’s only been missing for a few days at this point. It’s probably just him hiding from Zeus so he isn’t punished for Octavian. I wouldn’t be super worried about it.”

Will nodded. “Do you wanna play 20 questions or something?”

“What’s 20 questions?”

“Is the name not self-explanatory?” Will asked, laughing.

Nico frowned. “Not really. Do you know what Buccaneer is?”

Will shook his head. “That’s what I thought, radiator.”

Will laughed again. “What does radiator even mean?”

“You literally like, radiate heat. Like you’re literally the sun or a freakin’ radiator.”

Will laughed. “Do I? Is it just  _ me _ or do my siblings have that effect too?”

Nico glared. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not forced to spend all of my time with them.”

Will grinned, his dimples just as pronounced as his smile. “You know you love it.”

“Debateable.”   
“You wish, Death Boy,” Will shrugged. “Back to 20 questions?”

“Don’t call me that!” Nico groused, crossing his arms. “I guess, yeah, if you explain it first.”

“It’s literally just asking 20 questions and you take turns,” Will said, his smile growing.   
“I’ll go first,” The blond finished. “What’s your favorite color?”

Nico glared. “Is that not like, the most basic question ever?”   
Will’s eyebrows raised on their own accord. “The question still stands, diAngelo.”

The brunette sighed. “Don’t laugh at me.”

“You realize that saying ‘don’t laugh at me’ means that I’ll probably want to laugh more right?”

Nico pursed his lips.

“It’s black.”

Will bit his cheek in an attempt to hold back a giggle, but a little whimper still escaped. “You are so stereotypical cabin 13, I can’t handle it,” He said, coughing to cover the laughs that tickled at his insides like a million microscopic butterflies. Nico’s eyebrows were furrowed so tightly Will thought they might get stuck like that. 

“You know what, Solace, I bet yours is yellow so be quiet.”

Will smirked. “It’s blue, actually.”

Nico tilted his head up and looked over the strawberry fields stretching down for miles. “Isn’t that a bit cabin 3 of you?”

The blond laughed and attempted to poke Nico’s nose, but he swatted Will’s tanned hand away. “Actually, I’m pretty sure Percy’s favorite color is green, but you can ask him at the bonfire tonight.” At that comment, Nico flushed. Will filed it away under things to talk about later. “It’s your turn to ask, Death Boy,”

Nico fixed him with a pointed glare, but still spoke. “What’s your middle name?”

“Andrew,” Will said, taking a deep breath. The scent of strawberries was light, like a perfume that had been applied hours ago, but he loved it nonetheless. It reminded him of his first summer at camp, before he’d been claimed.    
“Andrew,” Nico repeated, his eyes following a flock of pegasi that flew over the fields. “William Andrew Solace. It suits you.”

“Thanks, Naomi’s quite the picker,” Will joked, running his hands absentmindedly through his still-damp hair. “What’s yours?”

Nico looked startled. 

“I don’t…” The brunette bit his lip. “I don’t think I have one.”

Will looked away from the strawberry fields, his eyes tentatively meeting Nico’s. 

He studied the boy’s face, and he noticed how his chocolate-colored eyes looked slightly foggy. “I think I’d remember, you know, if I had one, but I don’t really know.”    
Will twirled a strand of his hair between his fingers. “You could ask your dad the next time he has an errand for you,” He suggested. “Since he doesn’t have as many kids-”  _ ‘like my dad,’ _ Will thought, “-he’d probably know.”

Nico pondered this for a moment and then sighed. “Maybe, yeah. I don’t know when I’ll need to go down again though, so by then I might forget.”

For the rest of the sunset, they sat there and talked. After a while, they stopped talking. Will had never been completely comfortable with silence- it always felt awkward and charged- but with Nico it was comfortable. They’d layed down, staring at the sky, and Will let the last warmth of the sun soak into his skin. When the last flecks of sunset had passed and it was completely dark, they laid on the blanket for a couple more minutes while Will pointed out the constellations he knew. 

“Over there-” He pointed, “That’s Orion. If you see the one star right there, it’s called Betelgeuse I think. And it connects to the rest of his belt. There-” He pointed again, “-Is his bow and arrow.”

Nico frowned. “Screw Orion. He’s a misogynistic asshole. And he killed so many hunters and amazons. He doesn’t deserve a constellation.”

It was quiet for a moment. “I’ve never heard you curse before, Death Boy,” He murmured, turning his head to the side. It was too dark to be sure, but he thought Nico flushed. “Well, you should get used to it. Hazel says I curse a lot.”

Will was still thinking of a witty reply when a loud ‘ _ whoop!’ _ rang through the forest. “We should probably go to the bonfire now,” He said, picking up the blanket they’d been sitting on and folding it into neat squares. 

When they broke through the tree line, the bonfire was up in session, and there were a tremendous amount of demigods surrounding it. The flames soared at twenty, thirty feet. Will grabbed Nico’s wrist and yanked him towards where he saw his friends sitting. Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Reyna, Hazel, and Frank sat on one of the benches, and Will was reluctant to notice how little the son of Hades seemed to want to go over there. He pulled him over, and they sat on the edge of the bench next to Percy and Reyna. They’d been talking about the Capture the Flag game that was set to happen the following night when the pair walked over.

“Obviously it would be unfair to keep all of you together!” Reyna was saying. “I think we should do Romans versus Greeks.”

Percy shoved her shoulder. “You do realize that’s like- a bloodbath waiting to happen- right? I  _ still  _ have adrenaline from the fight that didn’t happen, I’d bet most of us do. We probably shouldn’t pit us against each other.” 

Reyna sighed. “I suppose you’re right. That won’t keep me from kicking your butt, Jackson.”

Annabeth gave her a fist bump. “Who wants to be on my team?” She asked, glancing over at Nico and Will in greeting when they sat down. “Hey, guys! Where have you been?”

Will smiled. “The strawberry fields! Mr. Death King here needed some sunlight.”

“I didn’t  _ need  _ it,” Nico chimed in.

Will rolled his eyes. “You looked paler than the sheets you were sitting on. You needed some sun.”

Annabeth and Piper glanced at each other and smiled, which Will thought was a little odd, but he didn’t say anything. “So Percy,” Will started. “What’s your favorite color?”

Percy’s forehead wrinkled for a moment but he didn’t hesitate in saying “Grey,” and then immediately flushing.

Annabeth turned her head up towards him and smirked. “Grey?” She asked teasingly and kissed him on the chin. “Yeah, Wise Girl,” He muttered and returned her peck with one to her forehead. “I can’t believe how long I’ve known you guys,” He said, gesturing towards Annabeth, Will, and Nico with a shocked look on his face. “Can you believe all of you are gonna be at my wedding?” He asked looking at the little group, and then slapped his hand over his mouth. He glanced down at Annabeth apprehensively, and she was giggling. “I sure hope so, Seaweed Brain,” She chided, poking him on the arm. “You can’t have a wedding without the bride, can you?”

They’d sat at the bonfire into the early hours of the morning, singing and laughing until the majority of demigods had trickled off to sleep. Only Will, Nico, Reyna, Piper, and Jason were still there by the time they decided to kick it. “See you guys at breakfast tomorrow?” Piper asked while she laced her fingers with Jason’s. Will was surprised to see Nico nod in confirmation. “Bye,” Jason murmured, and they walked in the separate directions of the infirmary and cabin 1. “You need to get to bed,” Will hummed when he and Nico finally made it back to the infirmary. “It’s been a busy day for you.”   
“So much busier than reading Twilight alone in the infirmary,” Nico sighed, kicking his shoes off next to his bed. “Goodnight, Will,” He said as he settled into the bed. “Goodnight Sunshine,” Will replied, choosing to ignore the burning he felt in his cheeks as he left the infirmary.

The next morning, Will had actually gotten to sleep in. The cabin was eerily quiet, devoid of any movement besides the trickling of one of the diffusers next to Kayla’s bed. Allergies. 

Running his fingers through his knotted curls, he got up and pulled one of his shirts over his head. ‘ _ I should probably go find Kayla or Austin,’ _ He thought as he left the cabin. When he stepped outside, the cool air hit him in the face like a brick.  _ Why was it cold and foggy in August? _

He saw a couple of younger campers playing basketball with a couple of Romans, and on the porch of the big house, he noticed everyone who’d gone on the quest sitting. Even Nico. Will would need to ask Kayla if he’d asked to leave the infirmary and if he had, why Kayla wasn’t keeping an eye on him.

He jogged over- (And before you ask, no, flip-flops are  _ not  _ the most ideal running shoes,)- and caught Nico’s eye. The brunette waved him over. “Hey guys,” Will said, leaning against one of the columns. “What’s up?”

Annabeth smiled at him. “Just discussing the relations between the camps. We think there should be an open exchange program, like, where you can just go visit either camp for as long as you want. That way some campers could be closer to their families if they wanted, and the protectors wouldn’t have too much quite as far a trip.”

Reyna was at her side nodding. “Yeah, doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

The whole group looked like they were about as relaxed as Will had ever seen them, but there was an aura of melancholy. “So, Leo…” Will trailed off. It felt strange, to talk to them about the son of Hephaestus. He had barely known the scrawny boy, yet he’d been crazy close with all of them. It was like he was intruding.    
Piper and Jason both wore the deepest frowns, but everyone seemed unsettled by the news. 

“He’s dead,” Nico mumbled, and to Will’s surprise, the others did not react. “I felt him die.”

Jason wiped a tear off Piper’s cheek. The silence that followed was interrupted by a Roman camper running up the steps. He was out of breath and panting. “There’s-” He swallowed. “The hellhound, she’s like, freaking out. Isaac thinks she’s… having puppies.”

While the others jumped up, Will felt the blood drain from his face. “Nuh-uh!” He exclaimed. “I am  _ not _ going through that again! I haven’t even recovered from Mellie!”

Percy laughed. “You’ll be fine. I’m pretty sure that dogs don’t need someone to actually deliver the baby.”

And then they ran.

When they got there- Isaac had come from the canoe lake- Mrs. O’Leary was  _ thankfully  _ done with her labor. He’d been right- three tiny black puppies were laying at her side. “ _ Oh my gods! _ ” most of the demigods squealed and ran over to her. He heard the chattering choruses of ‘ _ Mrs. O’Leary!’  _ and _ ‘Good girl!’.  _ A few feet away, Nico and Annabeth stood, staring at the puppies in discomfort. “You guys don’t like dogs?” Will asked, walking over. They both shook their heads. “A German Shepard attacked me when I was little,” Annabeth said, her blond curls falling in her face. “So I just don’t really like them.”

“What about you?” Will asked, turning to Nico. The son of Hades was staring at the puppies with an odd expression- almost wistfulness. “What?” Nico asked, his gaze snapping away. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… I just- I haven’t seen anything so pure- if that makes sense- like, they’re so untainted.”

Will’s dimples deepened in a smile. “Are you a big softie on the inside, Death Boy?” 

The brunette elbowed him- kind of hard- in the side, and rolled his eyes. “No,” He muttered, but his timid smile gave the lie away. “They’re adorable, aren’t they?” Will asked, grabbing Nico’s wrist and gently pulling him forwards.

The next morning the mixed formal was all anyone was talking about. Apparently, one of the Romans had the idea that they should have a dance, like a prom, while everyone was at camp together. All of cabin 10 was losing their minds in the planning- well, minus Piper. She’d said she hated the dances her school had hosted, but that she would go if everyone else did. 

They sat at breakfast together, laughing and throwing food when Reyna asked Nico who he was going with. Will wasn’t sure what had happened between the two of them, but Nico seemed more comfortable around her than anyone else. Even so, he squirmed at the question. 

“I’ll go with him!” Will found himself speaking before the words registered in his mind.  _ Shit.  _ For a second Will’s thoughts scrambled in a panic, and he felt his cheeks flush, but his anxiety calmed when he felt Nico’s icy hands slide into Will’s with a timid smile. “Thanks,” He mouthed, and Will felt a jolt of electricity where their hands met. Who would’ve guessed that Nico diAngelo, the CEO of not wanting to be friends with anyone, wouldn’t have objected to him and Will going to a dance together? 

And that’s how Will found himself now, struggling to tie the tie that went with the cool grey suit he was wearing. He had moved to Camp Half-Blood when he was little- and none of his schools had hosted dances for the elementary schools. The suit- graciously lent out by the Aphrodite cabin- was silky against his skin.

There was a knock at the door of cabin 7, and when Will opened it he saw the picture-perfect face of Jason Grace. “Hey,” The other blond said easily, and Will stepped back to let him in. “What’s up?”

Jason’s cheeks turned a little pink. “You’re going to the dance with diAngelo, right?” Jason asked, ducking his head down under his arm. Will was dumbfounded. Jason- former praetor of Rome- Grace looked-  _ scared.  _ Of  _ Will.  _ Will nodded, trying to figure out where Jason was going with this. 

“I don’t know you super well,” the son of Jupiter began, scratching his head, “But Nico’s like, my little bro. Don’t hurt him, okay?”

Will’s cheeks were surely as red as Jason’s now, if not redder. “Um- I don’t know what you were thinking, but it’s not… like that,” Will muttered, staring at the floor. “Oh,” Jason breathed, a smile playing across his lips. “Alright. Well, I’ll see you there,” He said, opening the door. “Bye.”

With that, Will was left to fret over how the Hades he was supposed to tie a tie.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! I hope you liked this chapter :) I'm so excited about this story because I actually feel like I have a plot! Please please pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee leave me comments! i love you guy sm!!!


	5. nightmares

The Aphrodite cabin had gone all out. They’d had the Hephestus cabin build a wooden floor and put up a tent in a big open space near the lake. Twinkle lights had been strung up all around and there were Tiki torches every couple of feet. Will could hear the thudding bass of what sounded like pop music, though he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. There were bunches of tables set out, decorated with flowers, sea corals, and other miscellaneous objects. As hectic as it was, it was gorgeous. 

Will had been one of the later to arrive, so it was already pretty full of demigods. Somehow, everyone had found formal wear. Will wasn’t sure if the Aphrodite cabin had loaned all of it out, or what, but everyone looked great. There was lots of chattering and laughter, and Will spotted Reyna who was facing away, standing next to Nico and Annabeth.    
“Hey y’all,” Will said, walking over to the trio, and his breath caught on the last syllable when he saw how Nico was dressed. Will was beyond surprised to see the son of Hades in anything other than his usual black shirt and skinny jeans. Nico was clad in a midnight black suit, his hair styled up with gel. “Wow,” Will teased, looking the son of Hades up and down, and laughing when his cheeks blossomed pink. “Not even a single skull!” 

The girls laughed, and Nico rolled his eyes. “I don’t always wear skulls, you know,” He chided, but there wasn’t any heat behind the words. “You look really good,” He added, and Will had to hide his shock. “The grey suits you.”

Nico diAngelo complimenting him? Did pigs fly now?

“Thanks.” Will smiled, his dimples on his cheeks pronounced as ever. “Have you guys had anything to eat yet?” He asked, craning his neck towards the giant buffet table that surrounded the south edge of the tent. It looked pleasant, better than the usual healthy stuff the camp had- Will noticed lots of junk food. He was a medic, and he didn’t generally condone the consumption of such foods, but every once in a while it was alright. “Cause I see some Oreos with my name on it.”

Nico’s 3 day stay in the infirmary had ended that afternoon, so Will wasn’t sure if he’d eaten. Hastily, he grabbed the pale boy’s hand.  _ Nope, he hadn’t. _

“Come with me, we can get food,” Will said, tugging Nico towards the table. “‘M not hungry-” Nico started, though he did not attempt to remove his hand from Will’s. “Yes, you are. I can tell. At least have some-” He scanned the table. “Here.” He picked up a Chick-Fil-A sandwich. “Have this. It’s from this fast-food restaurant called Chick-Fil-A. They’re homophobic but we kind of ignore it because the food is like, amazing. You like chicken right?”

Nico looked puzzled, but he took the sandwich from Will’s hands. “It’s-... what?”

Will laughed. “You know what fast food is, right?”    
Nico frowned. “Um, no.”

Will’s laughter bubbled out of him, warm and strong. “That’s crazy! You know what Mcdonald’s is! I know  _ that.  _ It’s basically like McDonald’s. Didn’t you go through the drive-thru when you got it last time?”

Nico shook his head. “I don’t know what a drive-through is. But we went to one inside a mall.”

“Nico!” Will exclaimed, tossing a Cheeto in his mouth while he laughed. “You’re something else.”

Nico bit his lip and turned the paper sandwich wrapper around in his hands. “Am I now?”    
Will chuckled and tugged Nico back to Reyna and Annabeth who had been joined by what appeared to be a very  _ drunk  _ Jason. “You guys are such badasses!” He slurred, and Will resisted the urge to drop his jaw and stare. Jason was  _ seventeen! _ “Jason!” Will called, racing over in concern. “Are you… Are you  _ drunk _ ?” Jason grinned and bumped his fist on Wills. “Totally not really,” He said, popping a chip in his mouth. Reyna laughed. “Don’t worry Will. Romans drink Wine at celebrations. Even the children! I think Jason just went a little overboard.”    
At that, Jason was giggling like a little kid. “I went overboard,” He chanted in a singsongy voice. “Nico!” He exclaimed, his focus snapping to the brunette. “Do you want to try some of this wine? It tastes like fruit. And honey! And I feel all warm and fluttery.”

Will clenched his teeth. “No,” He answered for Nico, his eyes snapping off of Jason and flitting to the pale boy at his side. “Nico just got out of the infirmary. He doesn’t need anything except for water. Speaking of which-” Will ducked over to the table and picked up a bottled water. “Here,” He said, placing it in Nico’s hands. “Gods, I hope nobody gives any of this to Percy. We don’t need multiple big 3 kids intoxicated.” He studied Jason for a moment, the way his breathing sounded labored; and decided to cut him off. “You need some water too, Grace,” He decided, tossing the blond a second water bottle. “Thanks, bro!” Jason exclaimed, throwing his arm around Will’s shoulder. “You’re such a good friend to me. Did you know that? I literally love you, bro. I love all of you, you’re such good friends!” Jason blurted, his gaze trained on Will in a surprisingly fierce. 

Will sighed. “Thanks, Grace, you too.”

Nico laughed at his side. “Something funny?” Will asked, turning to look the brunette in the eyes. 

“Are you usually so mom-like?” He questioned, his chocolate-colored eyes soft and trained on Will.    
Will flushed. Was he being too overbearing?

“Um- I don’t know,” He muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. His cheeks had tinted red. Just then, none other than Percy Jackson stumbled over. “Chase!” He exclaimed, grabbing Annabeth’s hand in his own. “Dance with me?” Annabeth giggled and nodded, letting Percy guide her towards the dance floor. “We should go dance guys!” Reyna said, nodding her head to the music. She weaved through the crowd and was gone from view.

“Do you wanna go?” Will asked, turning his head towards Nico timidly. Nico’s cheeks splashed red, but he nodded and started walking in the direction Reyna had gone off to. Will followed, the occasional “ _ excuse me, _ ” and “ _ sorry _ ,” slipping through his lips when he bumped into someone. After a moment, his eyes were drawn to Reyna who was dancing with Piper. “Aren’t you two cute?” Will teased, and Piper rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just go find  _ your  _ dancing partner, Solace?” Piper retorted. “You look pretty lame just standing there!”

There was a chorus of  _ ooooh _ ’s from his friends and Will felt someone grab his hand. Nico pulled him over and rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome,” He said, the hint of a smirk on his lips. “You owe me.”    
Will laughed. “Does me saving your life not constitute as you owing  _ me _ ? Wouldn’t that make us even?”

“Actually, I saved your butt when you had the bright idea to draw those Romans by  _ running away! _ ” 

Will rolled his eyes. “I could’ve handled them myself!”

“Sure looked like they were gaining on you. And with what weapon? You’re a fighter, Solace.”

Will pursed his lips, trying to remember his limited dancing knowledge as they talked. “Actually, how would you know that? For all you know, I’m as good as Kayla with a bow!”

The green-haired girl tapped his shoulder. “I heard my name?”

The blond chuckled. “Just telling Ghost Boy here that I might be just as good as you with a bow and arrow. He called me ‘not a fighter’!”   
Kayla rolled her eyes. “Will, I love you, but don’t even play pretend that you’re as good as me. Honestly, I think I’d dare to say I’m almost as good as dad,” She bragged, her blue eyes sparkling in the twinkle lights.

“Of course you think that! You’re so full of yourself. You’re lucky dad’s missing otherwise he’d probably smite you,” Will told her.    
“Oh shut up Will! You and I both know he’s one of the better ones. I don’t think he’d smite his kid for saying they’re almost as good an archer as him. Shouldn’t that just make him proud?”

“Do gods ever take things in the intended way?” Will retorted, grinning. She hit his arm playfully. “We got off topic! The point is, Nico, you’re right and he  _ does  _ such with a bow. He can handle himself well enough with a dagger, though I have no idea why of all things  _ that’s _ his weapon of choice. I suppose it could come in handy as a battle medic though…” She trailed off, her eyes turning slightly dreamy. “Anyways, I think I see Billie! Bye!” She exclaimed, and Will pretended not to notice the pink that colored her cheeks as she hurried off.

His focus trained back on Nico, the blond’s cheeks flushed as pink as Kayla’s. “You blush a lot,” Nico noted, looking up at Will with an unintelligible emotion in his eyes. This, of course, turned Will’s entire upper body a harsh scarlet color. “So?” Will asked, his lips tilted upwards. “You do too. Not sure if you noticed, but you’re not that great at hiding it,” Will told him, and Nico’s eyes grew wide. “ _ What _ ?”

_ Shit. Backpedal. Go back now. _ “Um- I-I just meant that- like- you-”

He took a breath. “Sorry. It’s kinda cute though. Don’t worry.”

Nico still looked like he was five seconds away from bolting, so Will gripped his hand. Trying to ignore his pounding heart, some part of him noticed that the music had decrescendo into a slow song. “Wanna dance?”

Will hoped that Nico didn’t notice the slight trembling of his hand. “Um- alright,” Nico breathed, and then he put his other hand on Will’s shoulder. Will pushed back his surprise. “You know how to dance?”    
Nico nodded. “They had ballroom dancing classes in my school. Hated them though. Nobody ever wanted to be my partner.”

Will fought a frown. He didn’t understand how people could be so unnecessarily cruel. “Well, I’m here now! I barely know how to dance. You should teach me,” Will said, racking his brain for what he knew of actual dancing. “I don’t remember the actual steps or anything.”

Nico smiled- a real genuine smile- and looked down at Will’s feet. “Okay, so you’ll step forward-” He stepped back to make room for Will to step forward, “With this foot,” He said, nodding towards Will’s left. “Then to the side,” He stepped to the side, “And then back.” He stepped back. They moved in a tight square formation for a few moments, and it reminded Will of the Cupid Shuffle. “Got it?” The brunette asked, glancing up and Will with an adorable look of concentration. 

“Yes, I think so,” Will replied, attempting to do the square again. “You suck,” Nico said, but he was smiling. 

“I know,” Will replied, a cheeky grin on his face. “I hate to ruin the impression that you’ve surely got that I’m perfect, but as you know, I am pretty close.”

“You’re such a dad, Solace.”

“Am I?” Will teased, his freckles practically glowing in the soft lighting. “I guess everyone has to call me  _ Daddy _ now,” He said, holding back a laugh.    
“Woah, Woah, Woah,” Piper’s voice came from behind him. “What did I hear about calling someone Daddy? Will, you better not be corrupting him!” 

Nico looked confused. “How would that be corrupting me?”

Piper and Will both had to stifle their giggles at that. “That,  _ Woya _ , is exactly how,” Piper told him, bopping the son of Hades on the nose. In response, he scrunched it up. He was adorable. “I’m going to make you explain that later Piper,” He called; but she’d already walked away. 

“So I guess you’re not as picture-perfect as people would think, huh Solace?” Nico said, and Will couldn’t help the strawberry pink tint that covered his cheeks. “Trying to corrupt me and all, I’m shocked.”

Will laughed and squeezed Nico’s hand. “Well I’m sure you’ll see I’m pretty close to perfect,” Will assured him, running his thumb over Nico’s knuckles. “It just depends on what you define as perfect.”

Nico’s lips turned upwards. “What if I define perfect as short, dark, frowny, and-” 

“Oh shut up, diAngelo, that sounds a bit narcissistic coming from  _ you _ .”

“Coming from me?!” Nico snorted. “Weren’t you the one who was just going on and on about how you’re perfect? Okay, hypocrite.”

Rolling his eyes, Will said “You know we both think I’m pretty perfect. There’s no denying it at this point.”

Nico’s eyes widened. “Don’t speak for me! For all you know, I could think you’re about as far from perfect as it gets. You should be happy I even showed up at this stupid dance.”

Will pouted. “You wouldn’t have left me to dance alone, would you have? That’s not very nice.”

“When did I  _ ever _ give you the impression that I’m nice?”

_ “When you showed up tonight.” _

The next morning, the camp was littered with random wrappers, soda cans, and other random bits of trash. The dryads were throwing a fit, so everyone was promptly woken up at 7:00 AM to come help clean. The Apollo cabin had probably consumed at least a gallon of coffee combined before any of them were ready to even begin getting dressed. Thankfully, it seemed they had the  _ least _ displeasure at the early rise time. The Romans- many of whom had gone overboard with the wine the same way Jason did- looked painfully hungover. Each camper was given a trash bag, and each Cabin and Cohort was assigned a certain area to tidy. Cabin 7 had the honor of cleaning part of the woods that connected the cabins and the lake. “I’m so tired,” Jerry complained as he grabbed a random sprite can off the ground. “Why couldn’t we clean at like, noon? Or at least after breakfast?”

Nobody answered him, and Will guessed they were too tired to even bother complaining. 

At lunch that day, the table Will had been sitting at’s attendance had thinned considerably. “Where are Piper and Annabeth?” He asked as he sat down, running his hands through his hair. “And Jason?”

Percy laughed, but his eyes widened in what looked like anxiety. “Makeovers in cabin 10. Piper dragged both of them into it, somehow. Don’t ask me how. Annabeth hates makeup. I think we have a double date tonight, so they want us to look good.”

“So they got Jason and not you?” Will asked, picking up a plate from the middle of the table. Percy winced. “Actually, I’ve got an appointment after lunch. So please talk slowly,” He joked. Will put his hand up in a mock salute. “Will do.”

At his side, Nico had yet to pick up a plate. “Aren’t you gonna eat, Death Boy?” Will asked, raising an eyebrow. “You need energy.”

“‘M not hungry,” The brunette mumbled, propping his chin upon his elbow. 

“You said that last time,” Will reminded him as he picked up a plate and placed it in front of him. “You can literally get anything you want. Please eat?”

Nico’s eyes met his and then rolled so hard he might’ve seen Olympus. “Fine.”

A McDonald’s Happy Meal appeared on the plate, and Will stifled his laugh. “Really, Death Boy, a Happy Meal?” He teased, reaching over to look at the kid’s maze that had been printed onto the cardboard. “Do you play the games too?”

Nico flushed. “Course not,” He grumbled, and then pulled the box out of Will’s hands. “Don’t judge me.”

Will smiled a crooked grin and turned back towards his food. “Whatever you say, Death Boy.”

After dinner that night, Will had led his cabin back to bed. They tidied up as usual, and since Will was the head counselor, he got the first showers. Unsurprisingly, the blond son of Apollo loved showers. The way he could blast music on his speaker and nobody would be annoyed because they all loved the songs just as much as he did, the way each bead of water felt like a massage. He loved more than anything though, the feeling of being  _ clean _ . Wrapping himself up in the fluffy yellow towels that cabin 7 kept, he let himself be enveloped in the steam that filled the bathroom.

_ Gods, Will loved showers. _

He’d just settled into his bed, clad in a tank-top and basketball shorts, when there was a faint knock on the door of the Apollo cabin. It was late- Will was always the last to lay down- and all of his siblings were sound asleep around him. For a moment, Will thought he was hearing things, the knocking was so soft, but when it persisted he got up to check. When he opened the door, the sweaty, pale face of Nico diAngelo was waiting on the other side. “W-Will?” The brunette murmured, and Will had to resist every urge in his body to rush forward and wrap his arms around the shivering boy. He knew Nico hated being touched. “Yeah? Nico, what’s wrong?”

The son of Hades blinked, and a tear silently traced its way down his cheek. “Here-” Will tugged on Nico’s forearm. “Come inside.”   
They stepped inside, and Will shut the door. “Are you alright?”

Nico was trembling, his entire frame shaking. “Nightmares,” He managed, his breaths coming out in quick succession, shallow and light. Will pulled him into a hug, and Nico must’ve been too upset to bother pushing him off. “Per-Percy and Annabeth usually help me-” He muttered, wincing away from something Will couldn’t see. “But they’re not here right now. D-Double date or something she said.”

With Nico wrapped between his arms, Will could feel just how violently the scrawny boy was quivering. 

“Hey, hey,” Will told him, rubbing a circle onto Nico’s shoulder with his hand. “It’ll be alright. Can you take a deep breath for me?”

Nico inhaled shallowly. “A  _ deep _ breath please,” Will reminded him softly, demonstrating. “I’ll count to three, okay?” 

Nico nodded, his eyes unfocused and foggy. Will counted to three, and Nico breathed in while he counted. “Not out for three,” Will said, repeating the numbers. “There you go. You’re doing it.”

After Nico had calmed down substantially, his silent hyperventilating turning into the occasional hiccup, Will asked him if he wanted to stay. “You could sleep in here, if you want,” Will offered. “If Percy and Annabeth are gone. You usually sleep in cabin 3 with them, huh?” He asked, running his fingers over Nico’s knuckles. Surprisingly, the trembling boy didn’t pull his hand away. “Yeah,” He admitted, biting his lip. “Usually we take shifts sleeping. Percy and Annabeth sleep first, then I wake Annabeth up for the 2nd third. Then she wakes Percy up for the last one.”

Will nodded. “That’s good that you guys have each other,” He said.

Despite being the closest thing the camp had to a therapist, he was at a loss for words. He had  _ no  _ idea what to say. Nico diAngelo was sitting at his side in his  _ bunk _ , and even letting Will  _ touch him. _ What was going on?

“Sorry for- um- waking you up, and crashing your cabin,” Nico murmured, and Will managed a soft smile. “You weren’t crashing. You’re always welcome here.”

“Is that so, Solace?” Nico asked, his lips twitching up microscopically.

“Course. That’s what friends are for,” Will told him, squeezing his hand. “Now scoot over. If we’re sharing my bed, then you better not hog the blankets.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked!! PLEASE leave me a comment :)  
> til next time,  
> xoxo morgan


	6. mental health

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, my lovely readers! Just a quick PSA that this chapter could possibly be a little triggering- it mentions anxiety and grief that Will goes through (bc I feel like Rick reeeeeally just glosses over the character's mental health and I wanted to go more in-depth with it) but it's nothing too intense. Just a little sad bit :) I hope you enjoy it!

The morning came gradually. Will stayed up, waking Nico up every couple of hours when he started whimpering in his sleep. Thankfully, none of Will’s siblings woke up- Nico would’ve been mortified. When the sun finally came up, and Will had to wake Nico up again- he decided to stay up. “Um-” He said, rubbing his eyes, “I should probably go back to my cabin. Or Percy’s. Thanks, for- you know,” He finished, his voice soft. He fidgeted, tugging his  _ Los Angeles _ t-shirt down, and got up out of bed. Will watched as his bare feet padded across the wooden floor of the Apollo cabin and out the door. It was completely silent barring the soft sleeping breaths of his siblings, and Will flopped down onto his bunk. He hadn’t slept a wink- not that he minded. He felt awful for Nico. He knew nightmares were unavoidable as demigods, but Will couldn’t even begin to imagine what Nico’s nightmares contained. Not only had he been to Tartarus  _ alone _ , but he hadn’t had the mist to protect him. Even Percy and Annabeth had that, Will knew, and it made his heart ache to think about what Nico must’ve felt when he was down there. 

He rolled over, pressing his pillow against his face, and closed his eyes. It only took moments for him to drift off to sleep.

“-ll Willlll,” A girl’s voice woke him up.  _ Woah. Head rush.  _ “What, Kayla?” He asked, rubbing his eyes. It was late August, and the cabin felt unusually humid. “Did you leave the door open?”

“Not important. Do you have skinny jeans?”   
“ _ What?” _

“Skinny jeans, Will! The denim pants that fit tightly? Are you usually this incompetent when you wake up?”

“Um-” Will thought for a second, “In the chest.  _ Why _ ?”

“I need to show off my legs, Will! And mine are in the washing machine! Why are you being so annoying? I’m borrowing them, okay?”

“Okay?”

She dug around in the chest at the foot of his bed for a moment before holding up his pair of jeans triumphantly. “Thanks, big bro, I owe you one!”

“Sure you do,” He grumbled as he let his head flop back onto his pillow. Frustratingly enough, he was now completely awake. Glancing out the window, he could tell it was around 3 PM.  _ Geez _ .

He hastily got up and dressed, tugging a slightly-too-tight t-shirt on over his red checkered pajama pants. If he hurried, he might make it to lunch.    
After rushing over- running in flip-flops is  _ not  _ easy, if you were wondering- he found that he’d missed lunch. The pavilion was empty. His stomach growled, though, so he decided to go bribe one of the Stoll’s for a snack. 

Knocking on the Hermes’ cabin door, the impish face of Connor Stoll stared back at him. “What’s up, Solace?”

“Missed breakfast and lunch. Can I get something to eat?”

Connor stroked an imaginary beard while he pretended to think. “No.”

“Connor!” Will exclaimed. “You owe me!”

“How?”

“I covered for you and Katie at the lake!”

Connor sighed and opened the door. “Fine. What do you want?”

Will walked inside and was assaulted by the huge assortment of junk food that lined most of the trunks at each bunk. Sleeping bags lined the floor, and Will had to watch his step. “Uh- I’ll just take the Cheetos,” He said, grabbing the party-sized bag off the nearest trunk. “Thanks!”

He started the walk back to his cabin, munching on the Cheetos he’d acquired. He tried not to let his mind wander- usually, when that happened he ended up upset, but today he was too distracted to keep his head focused. He’d always had unpleasant thoughts- doubts about himself, anxiety over his friends- but that was just something that came with being a demigod. Especially one who had been through multiple wars; but he thought he’d gotten pretty good at hiding them. He had a lot of responsibility, a duty of sorts, to Camp Half-Blood. Most other campers didn’t have the entire camp relying on them to  _ fix them  _ if something went wrong. Will couldn’t let himself be overcome with sadness-  _ ever. _ He didn’t have time to waste feeling sorry for himself- not when other campers were in pain. When an entire camp relies on you, you don’t really have the luxury of alone time. Still, the anxiety and grief bubbled up to the surface every once in a while. For once, Will didn’t have anything he  _ had  _ to do for the day. If something happened and someone got hurt, he was certain Kayla could handle it for an hour. Not that he was hiding out, just sitting in the woods; if anyone was looking for him he was sure they wouldn’t have a hard time finding them. 

He changed course, wandering into the thick treeline. He had one particular spot that he liked to go sit in when nothing was happening, in a little hidden meadow of sorts. The walk took a couple of minutes, and by the time he got there, his entire chest felt heavy. 

Will wasn’t a crier. He never had been, he was much more of the type to bottle things up. He carried each of his siblings in the Apollo cabin’s stress on his shoulders. He just  _ couldn’t _ let anyone else bear the burden- not when he was the head counselor. 

He sat at the base of one of the giant trees and wrapped his arms around his head. It reminded him faintly of the position they’d sit in during inclement weather drills when he was little, except he wasn’t on his knees. He took deep steadying breaths and watched the grass sway to the breeze between his legs. There was a Daisy, and he picked it, twirling it between his fingers. 

He never even spoke of it- but Will missed his older brothers. They’d been the closest thing to family he ever had besides Austin and Kayla- leaving his mom at the ginger age of 7 to come to camp- he’d seen them more than her after a couple of years being a full-time camper. When Lee had died during the Battle of the Labyrinth, he hadn’t had time to grieve. He had a job to do. With one less medic, he’d pushed himself harder than ever before. The entire battle was a blur for him- he barely remembered anything except the wrapping of bandages and the splattering of blood all over him. When the same thing happened to Micheal- something in Will snapped. The emotions had overcome him for maybe two minutes- tears falling uncontrollably down his face after it fully hit him that he was gone- but quickly his head had turned foggy and his battle medic training had taken over. He remembered when Percy had come to get him to heal Annabeth after she’d been stabbed with that poisoned knife, and even just remembering how exhausted he’d been after healing her made his head sag. Lee and Micheal, the oldest of his siblings before they died, had always been the kindest, best kind of people. When Will was little, right when he’d arrived, Lee had shown him around camp. He remembered the first time he’d seen the infirmary before he was claimed, and how he’d been completely fascinated by it. “You’d be a great son of Apollo,” He remembered Lee telling him as he ruffled his hair. “You look like the rest of my siblings, too,” He’d said. “Blond hair, blue eyes, and you clearly tan well.”

Will bit his cheek as he blinked the tears out of his eyes at the memory. Occasionally, he and Kayla or Austin would talk about them, but it usually just ended in tears. Kayla and Austin had both been there for him and each other, and they were all devastated by the loss of their brothers. 

They told stories about them: Lee had taught Kayla how to ice skate on the camp’s lake in the winter, and Micheal had been the one to show Austin how to play his first note on the saxophone. Micheal had taught Will about his sexuality after Will asked him about the little bisexual pin on his medic bag. He’d told Will about how most of Apollo’s children were like that, and how it was nothing Will should be ashamed of. Will had never experienced homophobia, so thanks to Micheal, he didn’t ever have to go through the years of conflicting feelings most of his siblings had before coming to camp. He just knew.

Every year on the anniversary of their brother’s deaths- or  _ disappearances _ \- the three of them would always hole up in their cabin and binge watch  _ How I Met Your Mother,  _ which had been Lee and Micheal’s favorite show before they died. With a pint of ice-cream- which Will didn’t usually endorse- wedged between them, they watched a different season each year. 

It never seemed to get easier, though.

A twig snapped, and Will was pulled to the present abruptly. “Who’s there?” He asked, his voice wobbling slightly. There was a snarl, and Will felt his heart rate spike. He hadn’t thought to bring a weapon.  _ Gods _ , he was stupid. 

He tried to tell where the deep growling was coming from- but the pitch was so low that it felt more like a vibration coming from every direction.

He pressed his back up tighter against the tree, trying to slow his breathing. From his left, he saw a feral wolf-looking monster. It was tense, poised to attack, and its focus was trained on Will.

_ He was going to die. _

He had no weapon, and even being the athlete-type he was, there was no way he could outrun  _ this. _

The wolf growled again, and futile as it was, he still tried to flee. His legs burned immediately from the adrenaline filling his body. He  _ knew  _ the wolf was following him, he could feel the pricks on his neck that told him so. As he ran, he felt the prickles getting stronger, and Will knew the beast must’ve been close now. Surely he was done for.

There was a hot flash on his arm, and he realized, to his horror, that the silvery colored wolf had caught him. It latched its teeth into his arm, snarling. The pain flooded his arm after a moment’s pause, his nerves delayed due to shock, and then he screamed.

His vision went blurry, and he knew then that it was over. His knees buckled, there was a soft thud, and everything went black.

At first, the only thing he registered was an  _ awful  _ pounding in his head. “Shh, go back to sleep,” A soft voice told him. He went back to sleep.

He didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious. He didn’t know how he was even alive. When his eyes fluttered open again, he was looking at the concerned stormy grey eyes of Annabeth Chase. “Hey, Will,” She greeted him, glancing down at his arm. “I was just coming to check on you while Kayla was napping. You scared everyone pretty bad.”

Will’s head was cloudy, but he was still able to wonder. “Since when are you a medic?” He asked, his voice slightly slurred. Annabeth laughed. 

“Not a medic,” She said, smirking. “But Austin just sent me to check if you were awake yet. Clearly, you are, so I can send over your greeting party.”

“Greeting party?”

She grinned, her eyes sparkling in the infirmary’s bright white lighting. “You’ll see,” She told him, and then calmly walked out of the room. 

Will sighed. He and Annabeth had known each other since Will was 8. She’d been 9, almost 10 when Will arrived at camp. She was the only camper even close to his age, so they ended up becoming pretty close friends. 

After waiting for a couple of minutes, Will heard talking and laughing on the other side of the door. A moment later, all of his friends burst in through the door. His brain hurt as the choruses of “Will!” from each of his friends. Practically half of the full-time campers were there: Percy, Annabeth, Kayla, Lou Ellen,  _ Nico, _ Jason, Austin, Cecil, Connor, Billie, and Piper crowded into the infirmary with varying looks of concern on their faces. “I’m so glad you’re okay, bro,” Jason said, stepping forward. “When Perce and I heard your scream in the woods, we thought you were a goner.” 

Percy nodded his head. “Yeah man,” Percy said, holding up his hand to show off a gnarly scratch. “That wolf nicked me pretty bad too. But the worst of it was when you fell and hit your head. Kayla said you have a concussion. It’s a good thing Riptide is always in my pocket, ‘cause Jason was defenseless,” Percy said.

Will winced. A concussion was  _ not  _ what he needed right now. Jason frowned. “I probably could’ve handled that wolf with my bare hands-” 

“Maybe if you used the winds or something-” 

“To kill a wolf? I didn’t see any lakes over there. Without Riptide you’d-”

“Bro! You didn’t even have your  _ gladius. _ Shut up.” 

Annabeth’s face, slightly annoyed but looking more like a tired mother than anything, stepped between the boys. “Did you guys forget why we’re here? Stop arguing.”

Jason and Percy looked back at Will with a sheepish look. “Sorry bro,” They both said at the same time, and then fist-bumped.   
“Your sister isn’t as good at stitches as you, Doctor Solace,” Percy joked, and Will focused his attention on the scratch Percy was showing off. Faint pink zig-zags covered his skin. “Huh,” Was all Will could manage. Nico’s face- frustrated instead of concerned- stood out in the crowd. Will shot him a confused glance, but he shook his head minisculely as if to say  _ not right now. _

“Okay, okay guys, let’s give him some space,” Annabeth said, tightening her blond ponytail. “I think someone was gonna stay with you to make sure you don’t need anything…” She trailed off, glancing to her side. 

“I’ll do it,” Nico said, and Will worked to hide his surprise. 

Lou Ellen winked at Will, which only confused him more. He was pretty sure even if he didn’t have the concussion, he’d be just as confused. 

The demigods filed out one by one until only Nico remained. “Hey,” Will said, ignoring his pounding heart. Nico cocked an eyebrow.    
“What were you doing out there?” He asked, folding his arms across his chest. Will frowned. “What do you mean?” Nico repeated the question. 

_ Ugh. _ Will didn’t exactly fancy the idea of telling  _ anyone _ what had happened in the woods; but he  _ especially _ did not feel like telling Nico. He’d barely just met him- who’s to say he wouldn’t think Will was a complete freak and bail?

“Um-” Will searched his head for the right words. “I was just…  _ thinking _ .”

Nico glared. “That sounds like bullshit.”

Will rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what to say-” He bit his lip. “I was just taking some time alone.”

“So you didn’t even think for a moment that it might be a bad idea to go off alone, without a weapon, into monster-packed woods? Weren’t you supposed to be smarter than that, being a doctor and all?”

The blond winced away from Nico’s words. 

“And,” Nico continued, “You didn’t even seem to think about how you’re like, my only friend here. Would you have left me all alone having to sit with  _ Kayla? _ ” He asked. Thankfully his voice had taken on a teasing tone towards the end, and he didn’t seem very upset anymore. 

“Sorry,” Will mumbled, staring at his bruised hands that were folded in his lap.

It was quiet for a moment, a tense silence falling over them before Nico spoke. “It’s okay,” He muttered and sat down on what used to be his bed during his three-day stay. “So how did Percy and Jason even find me?” Will asked, uncomfortable being the one  _ in  _ the infirmary bed rather than  _ tending _ to the person in the bed. 

Nico grimaced. “They were walking to sparring practice together. It was kind of close to where you were, so they heard when you yelled.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Kayla had her hands full fixing up your arm, but she says there shouldn’t be too much of a scar.”

Will looked over to his arm and followed the criss-cross stitches that looked identical to the ones he’d seen on Percy’s arm with his eyes. Kayla was a good medic- but she hadn’t had nearly as much practice or training as Will had. Usually, she taught the archery class while Will tended to the infirmary. Nico was right, though, there wouldn’t be much to see after the metal stitching thread was pulled out of his skin. 

It was uncomfortably awkward. The silence buzzed around Will’s skin like a hundred flies had decided to land on him. Will had always been good at making friends, he figured that was just an Apollo thing. When you’re sunny, smiley, and reasonably attractive, people tend to wanna be your friend. With Nico, Will had to work extra hard. He wasn’t used to people abruptly refusing any acts of friendship he tried- though he thought Nico was improving. Accepting Will’s invite to the dance had been a  _ huge  _ step for him. A week before, Will didn’t think Nico would have even helped him in the infirmary willingly. Much less a dance.

It was almost like he was working a turtle out of its shell, slow and steadily. 

“Did Kayla say how long I’d be stuck in the bed?”

Nic grinned cheekily. “Three days.”

_ Four Days Later _

Will didn’t think he’d ever be grateful for a wolf biting a chunk out of his arm- but when Harley’s three-legged death race came around for the third time that month- well, Will was more than happy to sit that one out. The Romans didn’t look particularly excited about being subjected to the game either- they milled around grumbling and just looking generally dejected. Nico was linked with Hazel, and he didn’t look particularly happy about it. Percy was with Annabeth, Piper with Jason, and Frank with Reyna. They’d decided that Hazel and Nico would play for Camp Half-Blood, and Piper and Jason Camp Jupiter. 

Harley looked positively giddy- he and Nyssa sat on top of a large boulder near the starting line. “So,” He began, clapping his hands together, “Basically you just have to go into the woods and find these.” He held up two items: Camp Jupiter’s battle helmet, and Camp Half-Blood’s. “If you’re Roman then you need to get these,” He held the orange helmet up. “Greek you get these,” He held the purple helmet up. “If you see someone from the opposite side’s helmet, you should hide it! Whichever side finds the 20 helmets from the opposite side and makes it back here wins!” He pulled out a horn and pressed it. Seventy or so pairs of demigods scattered into the woods. Will sat on one of the benches, watching Harley and Nyssa talk about who they thought would win. Chiron gazed at them fondly and then walked over to Will. “How are you doing, William?” He asked, glancing at Will’s gauze-covered arm. “The whole camp was very worried about you when Percy and Jason brought you in. You’re very lucky that they were there.”

Will looked at the floor. When Chiron spoke to him this was, it was like a disappointed parent. Worse, somehow. “I know,” Will said, toying with his leather bracelet. “I won’t do it again.”

Chiron nodded. “I believe that you won’t, William. You’re a smart boy.”

Will’s eyes stung. “Not smart enough,” He mumbled, and Chiron’s head snapped over to him. “Why do you say that?”

Will wiped his eye. He wasn’t sure what to say to Chiron. “I don’t know…” He mumbled, biting his cheek, “I just wish I was a better child of Apollo. All I can do is heal people- even regular mortals can do that. It’s not special.”

Chiron gazed down at Will with a sad smile. “William, you’re only fifteen years old and just as talented as any doctor I’ve ever met. You don’t call that smart?”

Will rolled his eyes. “Just because I can do it faster than regular doctors doesn’t make me special.”   
Chiron laughed. “Oh dear boy, but it does! Do you have any idea how many lives you’ve saved? How many people you’ve saved that a normal doctor couldn’t have?”

Will pursed his lips. “I guess.”

Chiron patted him on the head. “You are many things, William, but dumb is not one of them. Surely you’ll understand this with time.”

Just then Jason and Piper burst out of the woods with the winning helmet. “We win!” They exclaimed, before falling on their face. 

Even if Will didn’t wish to be a half-blood, he loved camp.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Not a lot of solangelo in this chapter, but I really enjoyed writing this one! I enjoyed the opportunity to try and dive into Will's character a little more, especially to get behind that whole 'i'm calm and relaxed and vibing 100% of the time' facade that he puts up. Behind it all, he's still hurting!! Just because someone doesn't show the super obvious signs of mental health issues (ex. Nico) doesn't mean they aren't struggling. Check on your friends!!!!!!  
> Okay, done with my spiel. I really hope you liked this chapter, and I pinky promise there will be more solangelo content in the next one! Please please PLEASE leave me a comment!! I can't tell you how much they motivate me to keep writing.  
> 'Til next time!  
> XOXO morgan

**Author's Note:**

> Hi besties! I hope you liked the first chapter! I know it's a little slow, what with the dialogue staying the same as it was in boO, but I wanted to keep it accurate. PLEASE leave me a comment if you liked, loved, or hated it! They make my day and give me inspo when I don't know what to write!  
> My twitter is @euphoricswiftie if you want to be moots!


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